


Walls Are Meant To Be Climbed

by rand_al_thor1894



Category: Marvel
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Peter Parker is a Mess, Self-Insert, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28343133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rand_al_thor1894/pseuds/rand_al_thor1894
Summary: Walls are meant to be climbed...seriously how the hell has no one made a Spiderman fic with that title?! It's a damn perfect fit.Anyway here's my first ever self-insert fic. This is somewhat of a test run. If it's good, I'll definitely continue it. The first few chapters are heavily influenced by Spectacular Spider-Man.Constructive criticism is much appreciated. Just be nice! Enjoy!
Relationships: Liz Allan/Peter Parker, Peter Parker/Mary Jane Watson
Comments: 10
Kudos: 43





	1. Who Am I?

Bullet. Alleyway. Me on the ground. Blood everywhere.

You can probably piece together what happened.

I was walking down the aforementioned alleyway on the way back to my dorm when I got cornered by a sketchy looking dude with wild hair and alcohol on his breath. He took out his pistol and asked me for my wallet.

I tossed him my wallet. Not that I had much in it, maybe 50 or 60 bucks at the most. The guy looked at the wallet and said, “Don’t fuck with me, man! I know you’ve got more on you!”

I tried to explain how I was a broke college student and didn’t have anything else. I turned out my pockets to prove it, but he still wasn’t buying it. I was starting to panic now. I didn’t have any more money, but he wasn’t letting me go.

At that moment, I saw a police car drive by the entrance of the alley.

“Hey, HEY! Help me!” I yelled out. Thankfully I got their attention.

The robber was startled by my call for help. He turned around to see who I was calling to, and seeing it was the police, tried to run past me. I stepped to my left to avoid him, but unfortunately, he decided to go around my left to pass me. He ended up colliding with me, and accidentally fired his gun. The bullet penetrated my chest.

Jesus Christ, it hurt so bad. I fell to the ground, blood spilling out of my chest. The last thing I remember before I died was the sound of police sirens wailing, the guy who shot me cussing profoundly as he ran away.

[…]

Being that I wasn’t particularly religious, I hadn’t expected anything to actually happen after I died.

I was standing on the steps at the entrance of a large building, Columbia University in particular. My head was flooded with memories that weren’t mine. This body certainly weren’t mine. Neither was the camera around my neck or the glasses on my face.

Huh. 

My days of reading fanfiction on the internet in my previous life had given me enough experience to realize what had happened. The fact that it had happened on the other hand, was astonishing.

Or maybe it was just that the Buddhists had been right all along. But that didn’t really make sense in my case. My new memories told me that I was 17. Why would I be reborn as a teenager?

I guess I should be kinda bummed out about the fact that I died, but honestly? I wasn’t. My life sucked. I had been a broke-ass college student, working three minimum wage jobs to get by. Estranged parents, no friends, and shitty grades only added to that. 

So, the chance to start over in a new world (hopefully a world where I can have superpowers) was exciting. 

I was on a school trip, and waiting for someone, my memories told me. A friend.

So, I had friends. Already off to a better start.

“Hey, Pete.” I hear someone say behind me. I turn around to see a slightly taller guy my age. He had long brown hair and a grin on his face as he approached me.

“Hi-ya Harry,” I say, recalling his name. This was the friend I was waiting for.

So, my name was Peter and my best friend’s name was Harry. Hmmmmm.

“Aren’t you gonna be needing this, Harry?” A voice said. Harry turned around. A 50-ish man, presumably his dad, was getting out of the back of a Bentley with Harry’s backpack in his hand. He handed Harry the bag. He looks at me and then smiles.

“Ah, you must be Peter Parker! Harry tells me you’re quite the science whiz. Y’know, I’m something of a scientist myself!”

Okay, okay, okay, cool, cool, cool. 

That last line confirmed it. I’m Peter Parker. That is Norman Osborn. The Green Goblin. I’m actually the fricking Spiderman!

Or rather, will be. As far as I knew, I hadn’t been bitten by the spider yet. Judging by the scenario, this was probably the beginning of Spiderman 1. The Sam Raimi movie. But I wasn’t sure if there were any other Marvel heroes in this world.

“Peter, this is my dad, Norman Osborn.” Harry said. 

“It’s an honor to meet you, sir,” I said, shaking hands with him. “I just wanna say, what you guys are doing at Oscorp, designing the guidance and re-entry systems for the shuttle mission to Mars, really brilliant. That’s so awesome.” That last bit was just something I fetched from Peter’s memories as conversation topic.

“Impressive, you seem to know your game,” Mr. Osborn said. “Your parents must be proud.”

“I live with my aunt and uncle, actually. My parents died when I was little,” I said.

“Sorry to hear that. I lost my parents as a young boy as well.”

At that moment the teacher called out to me and Harry from the entrance of the main building. “Hey, you two! I’m closing the door, get over here!”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Osborn,” I said as I walked towards the university.

“See you around, Parker.” He said as he went back into the Bentley.

I catch up with Harry inside the building. I see him smile at a cute red-haired girl that I assume was Mary Jane Watson. MJ smiles back, before returning to the conversation she was having with her friends.

I feel Harry nudge me slightly towards MJ.

“Go on, say something.” 

“What, now? Are you in your senses?” I respond. I may not be madly in love with MJ like Peter normally would have been, but I still didn’t want to ruin my impression. After all, she was pretty.

“C’mon, what’s the worst she’s gonna say?” Harry asked.

“How about ‘ew’?” I said.

The tour began. Me, Harry, and some 30-odd students as well as the teacher followed the tour guide, a female scientist of Asian descent, through the Genetic Research Institute, where we spotted a bunch of spider exhibits.

“There are over 32,000 known species of spiders in the world,” the tour guide was saying. “They belong to the order Araneae, which is further divided into 3 sub-orders: Mesothelae, Orthognatha, and Labidognatha.”

I saw a tall, heavily built guy, probably Flash Thompson, move close to MJ, and put his arm around her. He nuzzles her neck. MJ pulls away and looks around to see if anyone saw. She spots me looking and blushes in embarrassment. I looked away immediately. I’ll admit she’s kinda cute when she blushes like that.

The tour guide was explaining the jumping abilities of the genus Salticus spider when she caught my eye. Remembering that there was a camera around my neck, and that I needed shots for the school paper, I gestured to the camera. “For the school paper?” I asked.

“Mmhmm.” She nodded. 

In my previous life, I wasn’t exactly an expert photographer or anything, but I guess in this world, I got Peter’s skills as well as his memories. I took a few shots, most of them pretty decent. Luckily, I stopped snapping photos before Flash or his cronies could get to me.

We move further on, passing more spider exhibits as well as scientists working on some science things.

“Over the course of five painstaking years, Columbia’s genetics research facility has finally mapped the genetic codes of each of these spiders,” the tour guide said. “Armed with these DNA blueprints, we have now begun what was once thought impossible: inter-species genetic transmutation!

“In this Recombination Lab, we use synthesized transfer-RNA to encode an entirely new genome, combining genetic information from all three spiders into these fifteen genetically designed super-spiders, the first mankind has ever produced.”

The class proceeded check the spiders out. They’re seriously creepy looking.

I saw MJ and Harry standing next to one another.

“Disgusting,” I heard MJ say in a fascinated voice.

“Hateful little thing,” Harry said in agreement.

“I love it!” MJ said.

“Huh? Really? I mean, me too!”

What a simp.

“Just imagine,” the tour guide said. “if one day we can isolate the strengths, powers, and immunities in human beings and transfer that DD code among ourselves. All known disease cou1d be wiped out. Of course, we' re nowhere near ready to start experimenting with humans, so for the moment we're concentrating on these fifteen spiders. Any questions?”

“Fourteen.” MJ said quietly.

“Pardon?” the tour guide said.

“Oh, I mean that there are 14 spiders here.”

“What? Surely there are fifteen. Wait let me count, one, two, three…”

As she counts, I feel something crawling up the back of my neck. Something small, like a spider.

This might be the moment. 

I braced myself for the bite. It came a second late, and it stinged bad. I almost let out a gasp of pain. After the bite, I flicked it off my neck with my hand. I saw it fall to the ground, dead.

This was it. Hopefully. I swear if I get reborn into the Marvel/Raimi universe (I wasn’t sure if it was just Spidey, or if there were other heroes active/soon to come) as Peter Parker, and get bit by a spider, only for it to be some dumb, normal spider, I will lowkey kill myself.

Okay, probably not. But I’d still be pissed as shit. I knelt down by the dead spider to look at it. Sure enough, it looked like one of the super-spiders.

Holy shit, I was actually going to be Spiderman! My fricking childhood dream come true!

[…]

When I got home that afternoon, I was feeling really dizzy. If I recall correctly, this also happened to Peter when he got bit in the original Raimi trilogy, so that was fun.

I opened the door to what my/Peter’s memories told me was my home. Entering the house, I saw a man in his late-50’s or maybe early-60’s, and a kindly old woman of similar age, having supper together. Uncle Ben and Aunt May.

They didn’t look quite as ancient as they did in the Raimi films, but they’re still old. A bit more similar to the Amazing Spiderman film versions.

Aunt May saw me and beamed. “Oh, hello sweetie, how are you? You’re just in time for supper.”

“Hey, how was the field trip, Michelangelo?” Uncle Ben asked.

“Uh, yeah it was great,” I said. “Listen, I’m not feeling that great, I’m gonna go take a nap. Okay?”

“You sure you don’t want anything to eat, Peter?” Aunt May asked as I approached the stairs.

“Nah, I’m not hungry, thanks.”

“D’you get some pictures, Peter?” Uncle Ben asked as I climbed the steps.

“Yeah, I got some good shots. I’ll show you later.”

I went into my room. That was when my head started to spin really bad. I felt like I had a fever, and only barely managed to get to the bed before I blacked out.

[…] 

When I woke up the next day, the first thing I did was take my shirt off and look at my reflection. 

Using the words of Peter himself from the movie, there was big change.

I had a lean, muscular build now. Not unlike that of a professional swimmer or, I guess, Spiderman. My eyesight was also much better; I didn’t need the glasses anymore.

I looked out the window, and damn did I realize that Pete had a great view of MJ’s room in the next house. And MJ didn’t exactly bother to draw her curtains either.

Fortunately, or actually, I guess unfortunately, I missed the more interesting parts of her morning routine, and all I saw was her fixing her hair before exiting the room. Luckily, she didn’t see me looking. That would have been awkward.

At that moment I realized that I, in fact, was almost late for school. Getting dressed, I quickly ran down the stairs, feeling refreshed and energized in a way I had never felt before.

“Hey, Michelangelo!” Uncle Ben grinned at me as I jumped the last few steps into the dining room. “You’re up! How’re you feeling?”

“Better than ever, uncle Ben,” I said happily as I drank my glass of orange juice. I then devoured a sausage and then ran out of the house with a slice of buttered toast in my hand. 

“Have you got your lunch money, Peter?” Aunt May called after me.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it!”

“Hey buddy, don’t forget we’re painting the kitchen after school today!”

“Okay, don’t start without me!” I said as I left the house. Closing the door behind me, I heard uncle Ben chuckle to Aunt May, “Teenagers. Raging hormones.”

I managed to get on the school bus in time, unlike yesterday. Nothing much happened at school. Nothing happened during lunch. MJ didn’t trip and almost fall, no organic webs incident, no hallway fight with Flash.

So maybe, just maybe, it’s not the Raimi world. Perhaps I’m in the broader Marvel Universe.

If I was, then superheroes hadn’t started popping up yet. If there had been any active superheroes flying around, then Peter Parker would definitely know about it. Yet there weren’t any memories or knowledge about real, active superheroes in Peter’s head. The material about superheroes that there was, all came from my memories.

After school, I was on the bus on the way back home. My arm was partially hanging out the window, and I was resting my head on it. It had been a somewhat disappointing day. My powers hadn’t shown themselves yet. They usually developed overnight according to the movies and comics.

I felt the hairs on my arm stand up suddenly. My ears started ringing and tingling. I felt as though there was a potential threat in the bus behind me.

Responding to my instincts, I ducked, the back of my seat shielding my head and body. The ‘threat’ turned out to be a spitball fired by Flash a couple seats back. The projectile spitball hit the kid in front of me in the back of the head. 

He turned around and looked at me angrily. I just pointed back at Flash. The guy’s anger suddenly vanished and he turned back to the front. He was probably scared of Flash.

So, I had Spidey-sense. HELL FUCKING YEAH!

I was going to be Spiderman. I was actually going to be Spiderman! I had powers now! Years of dreams and fantasies were finally coming true!

[…]

I had promised to paint the kitchen with Uncle Ben after school. That would take up the whole afternoon, meaning that I couldn’t go out and discover my new powers. 

Not a problem. Tomorrow was Saturday. No school, so I could do it then.

My clothes were covered in paint after the kitchen was done, so I went up to take a shower afterwards. I undressed and was about to step into the shower when I noticed a cockroach on the vanity. 

It was near my toothbrush, and no way in hell was I going to risk having something I put in my mouth everyday even close to a roach. I moved to defuse the threat (by which I mean making the cockroach go bye-bye), but then something unexpected happened.

That motherfucker flew right at me.

Okay, but can we just agree that giving cockroaches the power of flight was a huge mistake on God’s part? Like, that shit’s freaky.

I yelped like a little bitch and tried to dodge the bug, and the next thing I knew was that I was sticking to the ceiling. 

Huh.

I managed to climb down, and after squashing the damn bug, I tried sticking to the ceiling again, and briefly succeeded before falling. It wasn’t exactly graceful, but it was a start. 

[…]

The next day, after breakfast, I headed out.

“Hey, Michelangelo!” Uncle Ben called out to me. “Where’re you heading to?”

“Uh, to Harry’s!” I said.

“Okay then, be sure to grab some milk and eggs on the way back."

“Sure, thing.”

I was not, in fact, going to Harry’s. That’s right, I used lies and deceit to hide my true destination. Maybe not the most dramatic thing to lie about, but that’s okay. If I was going to be a superhero, I needed to improve my lying skills in order to hide my identity. Better to start sooner than later, right?

I walked around town looking for a good, isolated place to test out my powers.

After almost an hour of wandering around I came to an abandoned factory in a safely secluded part of town. The factory had been abandoned for a couple decades, but was safe enough for me to fuck around with my powers without having the roof fall down on my head.

First things first. Organic webbing, yes or no?

After half an hour so of me doing the classic Spiderman hand-gesture, I could soundly say no. That meant I’ll have to develop my own web-shooters. I just hope that Peter’s intellect could get me through that. 

Secondly, wall climbing/sticking. 

That one was already a yes. I knew I could do that, but I would have to practice doing it to really get the hang of it.

It took some time, but eventually I got it. My hands weren’t permanently sticky, which was a good thing. In order to climb walls, I had to activate the power by will. Only then could I climb walls and stick to stuff. I had to stay focused too, otherwise the power would de-activate mid-climb.

Thirdly, physical abilities.

Spiderman was far stronger, faster and more agile than the average human. Speed and agility weren’t as big of an issue as strength. 

If I recalled correctly, Spidey once punched Scorpion’s jaw off when he wasn’t holding back. Granted, it hadn’t been Peter in control of the body, rather Doc Octopus, but it was still Spiderman’s power. 

I had to be careful, lest I do some serious damage. I had to punch with more strength than an average person, without that single punch being fatal or permanently damaging.

The more I practiced my powers, the more I lost track of time. 

It was half-past 4 in the afternoon when I got a call from Uncle Ben on my phone. I picked up.

“Peter, where are you? It’s getting late,” he didn’t sound mad, but concerned.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Uncle Ben! I lost track of the time, I’m on my way home,” I said.

Please don’t tell me he was going to leave the house to look for me. Because that will definitely end with him getting shot.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon,” I reassured him.

“Okay, be careful. Remember to get some milk and eggs on the way back okay?”

“Okay.” I hung up.

Time to head to the store, then back home. Walking the whole way would suck. So, after leaving the factory and getting back to the main part of town, I went into an alleyway, made sure no one was looking, and then began to climb up the side of a building.

Once I was on the top, I ran towards the edge of the building and leaped onto the roof of the next building. I kept running and leaping, letting the wind ruffle my hair and adrenaline course through my body. It was a truly wonderful experience.

At the store, it turned out that I didn’t have any money on me. Ugh, whatever. Guess I’d have to find an ATM, call Uncle Ben and withdraw some cash from his account, then pay him back later.

As I was about to exit the store, some guy, with a mop of dirty-blond hair and sunglasses, pull a knife on the cashier and demand money. 

Looks like a job for Spiderman!

Or actually, in this case, regular old Peter Parker.

The robber got the cash and ran out of the store. The cashier then picked up a phone and called the police. 

I was standing at the doorway, blocking the robber’s exit. He saw me standing and took out his knife. He said, “Listen kid, don’t do anything stupid, I don’t wanna hurt you. Just let me leave, and we can all go home.” 

I step to the side to let him pass. He moved to get out of the store but I stuck my foot out at the last second, causing him to fall out onto the sidewalk on his face. The knife and the bag of cash fell out of his hands. He tried to get back but I punched him in the face.

Maybe a bit too hardly, though.

He fell to the ground, unconscious. At first, I was worried I had done something worse. I checked his pulse. He was okay, just unconscious, and apart from a busted lip and a broken tooth, would be alright. 

I grabbed the bag of cash. For a brief second, the thought of taking it and running crossed my mind, but I disregarded that immediately. Stealing is a crime. I was going to be Spiderman, not a criminal. Even if I didn’t have the motivation that Spidey normally had, I was still going to be the good guy. Or at least try to.

I went back into the store with the cash and returned it.

“There,” I said, handing the cashier the money. “I didn’t take any, you can count it.”

The cashier took the sack. He looked at it for a moment before turning to me and saying, “Hey, you know what? Take whatever you need from this joint. It’s free.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah, really.”

Huh. Guess being a good guy paid off.

I left the store with the eggs and milk, as well as a few other things for myself, and headed back.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t do the rooftop leaping after I got the groceries, because that might crack the eggs.

After getting home, sometime a I was relieved to find out that Uncle Ben had not gone out to find me, and was still alive. 

Weirdly, I felt a sense of attachment to Uncle Ben and Aunt May as though I had known them all my lives, like Peter, and not just barely 2 days. Obviously, I didn’t want them to die, but the concern and feelings I had were something else.

I suppose it’s a result of me being thrown into Peter’s body. Maybe along with gaining all his memories and skills, I also gained all his feelings.

This had been a good day, I reflected as I went to bed that night. I had learned a lot about my powers and even prevented a robbery!

[…]

(Elsewhere in New York)

At an Oscorp facility, a bald, skinny old man with a pointed nose was arguing with a short fat scientist. The contrast between the two men was almost comic.

“I blame you for this!” the skinny old man spat at the other man. “You told me to bring my magnetic air-transport system to Oscorp!”

“I-I know, but-” the other man tried to say weakly.

“You arranged the meeting with Norman Osborn!” 

“I know, and I had the best intentions at heart but-”

“He studied my ideas and REJECTED them!” the old man yelled. “And then, he announces Oscorp Tech-Flight, 4 months later!”

“I know, and I-I’m sorry Adrian but-”

“Don’t you dare apologize, doctor,” a new voice said. Norman Osborn entered the lab with two bodyguards behind him. “Oscorp has nothing to apologize for.”

“Nothing to apologize for?!” the man called Adrian sputtered. “How dare you?! You stole my work!”

“That’s dangerous talk, Mr. Toomes,” Norman Osborn said, approaching the two scientists. “Dangerous and unsupported.”

Placing a hand on Adrian Toomes’ shoulder, Norman went on, “Listen, old man. You’ve been at this for decades without even a single success to your name. if you couldn’t accomplish anything as a young man, who’d believe you created Tech-Flight, as an old one? Boys,” he said, addressing his bodyguards. “Show Mr. Toomes out, will you?”

Toomes’ face was dark as he turned to the fat scientist. “Good news,” he growled. “I don’t blame you anymore.”

He was then dragged out of the facility by Osborn’s bodyguards.


	2. Kids These Days...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With his ever-increasing workload, both as a student and as a crimefighter, our boy Peter decides to visit his buddy Harry and catch a break.
> 
> But this is Peter Parker we're talking about, and he can never catch a break.
> 
> Also, I know my action sequences suck, but bear with me here, I'm trying to get better.

The two-and-a-half weeks following the spider bite were eventful.

During the day, schoolwork kept me occupied. After school I would go to the abandoned factory and train. I got pretty decent with my new powers after only a week or so. Enough to do small-scale crimefighting on the streets. The issue here was, I had no costume, or web-shooters.

So, I whipped up a Basic Hero Suit™. It didn’t even look like a something a hero would wear. Rather a vigilante, or quite possibly a convenience store robber.

Heck it wasn’t much of a suit to begin with. It was just a red mask with holes cut in for the eyes and sunglasses on top. The rest was just some regular trousers, a hooded jacket and sneakers.

But that was okay. I was already working on my main suit. It was almost done. Apparently, Aunt May had taught me, or rather Peter, sewing a few years back, and I was actually okay at it. The design I was sticking to was the classic Spiderman costume. A bit like the one in the Raimi movies, though not quite as chonky.

For the past few days, I had been setting out at night to fight crime. Up till now that had mainly consisted of preventing robberies like the incidents two weeks ago, and alleyway muggings.

Peter’s intellect helped me put together an idea on how the web shooters would work, and I was in the process of putting together a working prototype.

I hadn’t needed web-shooters that urgently, since I had only been doing small-scale stuff. My short-term objective had been to do street-level crimefighting until the web-shooters and upgraded costume were ready. Working on the streets would also get me some practical experience, which would be useful when I moved on to the bigger stuff.

Even with my Spidey-related shenanigans, I had to keep up with homework. If it meant finishing it on the school bus or sometimes, in the cafeteria, so be it. After all, this was my last year. I would have to go to college and then get a job after. Being Spiderman didn’t pay. 

Stay in school, kids.

Don’t do drugs either.

[…]

Today, things got even more hectic. 

Our Biology teacher told me and another girl to stay after class to talk with him. 

That girl happened to be Gwen Stacy. Contrary to the Spiderman canon, my memories told me that me/Peter and Gwen had never actually interacted with each other before.

When the class finally ended, we went up to the teacher’s desk.

“You wanted to talk to us, sir?” I asked.

“Yes, Mr. Parker, Ms. Stacy. You might recall the field trip you went on a few weeks back? To Columbia University?” he said.

“Uh huh, yeah I’ll never forget that field trip,” I said.

“Me neither!” Gwen said eagerly. “It was thrilling!”

“Well, I’m glad you feel that way,” the teacher said. Because Curtis Connors of Columbia University, is offering two internships to promising high-schoolers. And I recommended my two, star pupils. You’ll start this afternoon. That is all.”

Great. So now I had to do internships as well.

Being Peter Parker kinda sucked.

I had finally put together a prototype for the web-shooters and had been hoping I could try them out today. Not to mention the suit was also ready.

This could have been my first proper night as Spiderman! Now I was gonna have to spend it stuck in a lab with a man who might become The Lizard.

This better be a paid internship.

[…]

After school I went to Harry’s house, to kill some time. And by ‘house’ I mean giant skyscraper with a penthouse on top. 

The sofa me and Harry were sitting on was probably worth more than my entire house. 

I had called Uncle Ben to let him know where I was, so that he wouldn’t go out looking for me and get shot if I didn’t show up. At this rate, I’ll start having a panic attack every time Uncle Ben steps out to get some milk. Oh well, better safe than sorry.

“So anyway,” Harry said, as we played Mortal Kombat on his PS4. “Why’d you and Gwen stay behind after Biology?”

“Oh, uh, Mr. Danton said we were going to intern at Columbia University working with Curtis Connors.”

“Huh, cool. So what about the school paper? Aren’t you their star photographer or something?”

“Not anymore,” I said.

“Boys! Can you please come here for a minute?” Norman Osborn called from the balcony.

The balcony was bigger than my entire goddam house. 

Norman was sitting on a chair under an umbrella. His laptop (which was also probably worth more than my entire house) was on his lap and he was presumably doing business things on it. He was a businessman after all.

“Forgive me for being nosy, but I couldn’t help but overhear you say something about an internship, Peter.”

“Oh, it’s no biggie. I got an internship at Columbia working with Curt Connors.”

“Connors, huh? Well, consider me impressed, that’s quite the opportunity, Parker!” he turned to Harry and said in a rougher tone. “I don’t suppose you were considered for the honor, Harry?”

“No, dad,” Harry said bashfully.

“It’s no big deal, Mr. Osborn, really,” I said, trying to save Harry from this conversation. “We’ll get out of your way, now.”

Me and Harry start walking back inside. Suddenly, a voice shouted, “OSBORN!”

Me and Harry turn around to see a bald man with a pointed nose, wearing a skin-tight green costume that highlighted his thin frame, and motherfucking mechanical wings on his back fly towards us.

Adrian Toomes. The Vulture.

He swooped onto the balcony and grabbed Mr. Osborn by the shoulders with his clawed boots, and took off with him.

“Holy crap, dad!” Harry yelled as the Vulture flew away. “Crap, what do we do?!”

“Call the cops,” I told him. “Do it, just go!”

Well, guess I’ll get to try out those web-shooters anyway. I would have a preferred a situation where someone’s life wasn’t at stake, but whatever. I’m Peter Parker, things never go right for me.

As Harry ran indoors, I opened my back pack. I took out the web shooters and put them on. I took off my regular clothes; I was wearing my Spidey-suit underneath. Y’know, just in case. I put my regular clothes in the backpack and put on my mask and gloves. Now donning my classic Spiderman suit, I jump.

The jump was many things. Wonderful, adrenaline-rushing, and terrifying as shit included. 

It was only after I jumped that I realize that I had no practical experience regarding web-slinging. I knew the theory, but that would only get me so far. I might as well end up going splat on the sidewalk. Or on the side of a building.

I shot a web onto a nearby building. It stuck and thankfully, supported my weight as I swung forward. I let go of the web and fired a new one to another building. I then repeated this again and again, and started going after the Vulture.

[…]

Further ahead, the Vulture swooped past the skyscrapers of Manhattan with Norman Osborn.

“Toomes, stop!” Osborn yelled. “What will any of this accomplish?”

“A means to an end, Osborn! Something you would know all about!” The Vulture yelled back. “You will announce me as the true creator of TechFlight, you will pay me all that I am owed, and you will publicly apologize, FOR STEALING MY INVENTION!”

“I never apologize, old man!” Osborn retorted.

“I may be an old man, but I’m not a patient one!”

The Vulture shot upwards, higher than most of the surrounding buildings. He let go of Norman, letting him plummet hundreds of feet to the ground below. The Vulture swooped back down to catch him before he hit the ground.

Only, it wasn’t the Vulture that caught Osborn, rather, a person dressed in red and blue, with a black spider logo on his chest.

[…]

Oh, you heavy son of bitch!

That’s the first thought that came into my mind when I caught Norman Osborn in mid-air. I was dangerously close to saying it out loud, too. That would have been a terrible first impression.

“Wha-What?! Who are you?” he demanded of me.

“Who am I?” I said. “You sure you wanna know? My story is not for the faint of-” unfortunately my Raimi monologue was cut short by the Vulture, who swooped past me trying to grab Norman.

“These skies are MINE!” The Vulture yelled as I narrowly dodged him.

“You’re right!” I yelled back at him. “I really just rent!”

Hey, can’t be Spiderman if you don’t got some sass, right?

“Put me down!” Norman yelled at me.

“Man, you are the bossiest damsel in distress I have ever rescued. Also, the ugliest. And the heaviest. And the first,” I responded as I web-slinged away.

“Who are you?!” Both Norman and the Vulture yelled at me in unison.

“Why, I’m your friendly neighborhood Spiderman!”

The Vulture sped up, and cut my web with his sharp wings mid-swing, causing me and Norman to plummet to the ground. I spotted a police station on the street below, and web-slung us there. The landing was less than graceful, but at least I didn’t break any of my, or Norman’s bones.

Two police officers were standing outside, about to get into their car. I quickly handed Osborn to them and said, “Just keep him away from that guy,” I said, pointing to the Vulture, who just swooped overheard trying to grab Osborn again but missed. 

“Wait, who are you, again?” one of the officers asked.

“I’m Spiderman!” I said as I slung away after the Vulture. I have to try and take him down before he makes another attempt.

“Explanations inside,” Osborn said to the officers.

I followed the Vulture, eventually catching up to him.

“Hey, hey Beaky!” I called out as I pursued him. “Listen, I respect anyone who dresses up as their favorite animal. Better still, you can fly. So, I gotta ask, you ever heard the one ‘with great power, comes great responsibility’?”

“Arghh!” he snarled at me. Putting on a burst of speed, he flew off into the sky, far higher for me to follow by web-slinging. 

“Aw, Beaky c’mon now! Don’t get mad!”

“The name, IS VULTURE!” He yelled back as he disappeared into the skyline. I also noticed Stark Tower in the distance. That was interesting, because there were other Marvel heroes in this world. They just hadn’t appeared yet.

I decided not to follow him, since Norman was mostly safe, and that was the main concern. Secondly, I was getting late for my internship.

My first time as Spiderman, and I end up facing a major villain right off the bat.

At least the web-shooters work fine!

[…]

After retrieving my backpack from the side of the building where I hid it, I changed back into my normal clothes and headed over to Columbia University for my internship. I made a quick call to Harry explaining where I had vanished off to (I said I had chased the Vulture on foot. I really need to think up some good excuses and have them stored up)

I arrived at the university. Gwen was waiting for me outside. 

“Hey, what’s with that look?” I asked. “I’m only five minutes late!”

“What look? I’m not giving you any look!” she said.

“I am late though, right?” I said as we enter the lab together.

“Always,” a familiar voice says inside.

A tall, well-built guy with blond hair comes up to me. Eddie Brock, I recognize him. What’s he doing here?

“Eddie?” Gwen asks, taken aback. “What are you doing here?”

Damn, girl. Stealing the words out of my mouth.

“I work here. Doctor Connors’ personal lab assistant. Neat, right?” he responded. “So, Parker. How’re things at Midtown High? D’you need me to drop by and teach Flash Thompson a lesson sometime?”

“Nah, it’s alright,” I said. So far, I was liking this version of Eddie Brock.

At that moment, a side door that led to some other room opened, and a woman with orange hair and wearing a lab coat entered.

“Ah, here we are,” Eddie said. “Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, meet Martha Connors,”

Martha?

WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME?!?

Luckily, I didn’t say that out loud. That would have been embarrassing. After shaking hands, Martha Connors turned and yelled towards the door from which she had entered the lab.

“Curt! Stop hiding in the office! Come out and meet Peter and Gwen!”

“Yes coming, dear!” a voice came from behind the door. A few moments later, a middle-aged, brown haired man, with glasses and a lab coat, emerged from the office. He had a prosthetic right arm. Doctor Curtis Connors. The Lizard.

Or at least, he will become The Lizard. Or maybe he already was on that path. I don’t know, but I guess I’ll find out eventually.

After introductions, I followed Eddie to a corner of the room. He opened a cupboard there and started pulling out some equipment.

“Hey, Eddie,” I said. “So, uh, what does this gig pay?”

“Pay?” he looked confused for a sec, before letting out a chuckle. “Peter, you’re a high schooler with zero experience. You’re not getting paid!”

“Oh…” 

Well, that fucking sucked.

[…]

The internship ended at 9. My curfew was until 11, so I had two hours to do some web-slinging, wall climbing action.

After seeing Gwen safely to her home (because firstly, I am a gentleman, and secondly, she’s cute and I wanted to make a good impression), I put on the suit and headed off into the city, looking for crime.

It wasn’t until 10:30 that I finally spotted some trouble. A car-chase. The police were pursuing a black Toyota, and I was going to help. I stick a landing on top of the black car.

[…]

One would think that a police officer would get to see their fair share of crazy, and one would be right for thinking that.

But in a city like New York, there’s always something to surprise you.

Such as a random dude dressed in red and blue to drop out of literal fucking nowhere on top of the car you were chasing.

“What the-?” one of the police officers said.

“Who is that?” his partner said.

“Is he with them?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?”

[…]

I gave the police car behind me a thumbs-up to let them know I was on their side. Not sure they got the message, though.

From the roof of the black car, I broke the backseat window with a kick and slid into the car.

“Hey, fellas!” I said once inside the car. There were two dudes, Thug Number 1 on the driver’s seat, and Thug Number 2 next to him on the passenger seat. They looked like your stereotypical tough-guy thugs.

“Agh! Where the fuck did you come from- oof!” Thug Number 2 said before I shot a face at his web.

“C’mon man, mind your language,” I said. 

I punched Number 2 in the face, knocking him out cold.

“What?” Number 1 yelled, turning around to face me. “Why, you little-ah!”

I punched him as well, knocking him out with my super-human strength. It was only after he was unconscious, did I realize that that was not the best course of action, as there was no one behind the wheel now.

Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, I used the other to try and manipulate Number 1’s leg and get his foot to push down on the brakes. God knows how, but I was somehow able to stop the car without any sort of horrible accident.

With the car stopped, and both crooks unconscious, I exited the vehicle. The police car had also stopped, and the officers were standing outside, guns at the ready.

“Woah, woah, woah, don’t shoot!” I said as I stepped out of the car. I raised my hands just in case. “Yo, I didn’t take anything, I swear! In fact, I helped you guys, see?” I point at the car.

“Who are you?” One of the officers asks, still cautious.

“Me? Oh, I’m just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman! Don’t worry, I’m with you guys,”

“Spiderman?” the officer said, clearly sounding unimpressed with my choice of nickname.

“Because I can shoot webs and stick to walls and stuff.”

“Really?” he said, skeptical.

“Yup. Okay, anyway, I gotta go. I’m supposed to be home by 11, you see. School night and all. Anyway, it was a fun chat! I’ll see you guys around, bye!” and with that, I web-sling away.

“Hey, hey WAIT!” he yelled after me.

[…]

“What the hell was that?” the officer said, watching the self-proclaimed Spiderman disappear into the night.

“I have no idea. But I guess he wasn’t lying when he said he could shoot webs,” his partner said. “C’mon Morales, let’s arrest the perps.”

“Kids these days,”


	3. Survival Of The Fittest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spidey scores his first major win, but for Peter the poop continues to pile up on his shoulders.
> 
> My shortest chapter yet, but I promise I'll make the next one longer!

After the Vulture’s attack on Norman a week ago, I made sure to keep an eye on his home whenever I was doing Spidey-work. As far as I knew, the Vulture hadn’t tried anything since. Maybe he was waiting for the right moment? Regardless, I was gonna keep a watch on Norman.

I had also made some minor upgrades to my gear. The web-shooters had a longer range and the webs were stickier. I also had a police radio scanner app on my phone (which is apparently legal) that gave me updates on what was going down so I could help.

Today while I was waiting for the school bus at the stop, I saw a newspaper stand for The Daily Bugle. That caught my attention. Let’s see if they’ve started their ‘Spider-Man is a menace’ narrative yet.

No. The answer was no, they hadn’t yet. 

But they were offering money for pictures of Spider-Man. And who better to get pictures of Spider-Man, than Spider-Man himself? It would be nice to make my own money, and of course to help out Uncle Ben and Aunt May should the need arise.

But first, I would have to get through the school day. 

As cool as getting re-incarnated as Spider-Man was, I wasn’t too hyped about having to go through high school again. On the bright side, this was my last year, then I could go to college.

Actually, now that I think about it, that’s not much of a bright side.

[…]

Once again, the universe saw fit to increase my day-to-day workload in its never-ending effort to screw me over.

We got our Biology tests back today. Me and Gwen both got A+, as usual. Harry managed a B, mostly owing to me basically hand-feeding him the answers when the teacher wasn’t looking.

The real problem was Liz Allan. Stereotypical mean girl, and part of Flash Thompson’s Cult of Douche. Not his girlfriend though, from what I could gather, which was contrary to most comics.

She got an F on the test, making it the third time in a row. This was the last straw for Mr. Danton.

“Ms. Allan,” he said after class. “This is the third time in a row that you’ve failed a test. You need to improve your grades,”

“Yeah, yeah, sure Teach,” Liz said as she began walking out of the class.

“Wait a minute, young lady, I’m not done talking,” Mr. Danton stopped her. “Your situation is frankly, drastic. Therefore, Mr. Parker will be tutoring you from now on.”

“What?!” me and Liz both said in unison.

“Are you serious? You’re putting me up with Parker?!” Liz said.

I would have been offended at that, if I hadn’t completely agreed with her.

“Mr. Danton, with all due respect, I can’t tutor Liz. I’m kinda busy, you see, with the internships and whatnot,” I said.

“But the internships are only 3 days a week, Mr. Parker,” Mr. Danton replied. “Surely you can find time to tutor Liz on your off-days?”

What is it with teachers confusing your free time with your availability? Like, sure, I only had internships 3 days a week, but that doesn’t mean that I’m free the other days.

Before me or Liz could say anything in response, the teacher held up his hand and said, “This discussion is over. Mr. Parker, you will tutor Ms. Allan on whatever day suits you best. You both may leave now,”

Man, being Peter Parker sucked.

“Tomorrow work for you?” I asked Liz outside class.

I actually didn’t have internships today. But tomorrow was also free, and I really didn’t feel like tutoring today.

“Whatever,” she said and stalked away, clearly pissed.

Normally, I wouldn’t mind tutoring a cute girl too much. But being Spider-Man, along with internships and homework, left little free time on my hands, and I really didn’t want to spend it tutoring someone. Plus, the girl in question really didn’t like me. Honestly, the feeling was mutual.

[…]

I went to my locker to get my stuff at the end of the day, when I was cornered by Flash and his cronies.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Puny Parker,” he said, cracking his knuckles.

I sighed. I was seriously not in the mood for this.

“I’m not in the mood, Flash,”

“Oh, look at little Parker Junior! Gonna cry?”

Did… did he just make a Spider-Man 3 reference? How dare he? The audacity!

I tried to leave but one of Flash’s goons blocked my way.

I put my hand on the guy’s shoulder, and shoved him aside with my enhanced strength.

“Woah!” the guy said as he stumbled back, but prevented a fall.

“Hey, get back here, Parker! I’m not done with you!” Flash yelled at me.

My Spidey-sense tipped me off about the punch directed at the back of my head. I turned and grabbed his fist.

Flash was clearly taken aback by the fact that I had turned around so fast and stopped his fist.

I squeeze his fist harder, causing him to yelp in pain. I let go.

“Please, just stay away from me today,” I say.

I begin walking down the hallway towards the exit.

“Oh no you don’t!” I hear Flash yell at me. I turn around and see Flash and his goons running after me, so I also start to run. Since I am Spider-Man, I’m way faster than them. 

I ran out the entrance of the school and around the side of the building to a secluded spot, where I quickly change into my Spider-Man costume, hide my school bag behind a bush and web-sling to the front of the building, where Flash and his goons just emerged from inside.

The other students, seeing Spider-Man web-sling and land in front of them, all begin chattering excitedly. Some started taking pictures with their phones.

“Hey, there!” I say to Flash and his buddies.

“Sp-Spider-Man?” Flash asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you, actually!”

“Me?” he sounded nervous.

“Yeah, you! Listen, I’ve heard you’ve been a very naughty boy, bullying people for the fun of it. Not cool, man. Don’t bully anyone! Understood?”

“Yeah, you got it, Spidey!”

And with that, I web-sling away.

It took me half an hour to realize I had forgotten my backpack back at school.

After retrieving it, I returned to web-slinging around the city. My last ‘free’ afternoon for the week, and I was gonna make the most of it.

First order of business: get some shots for the Daily Bugle.

Shockingly, New York was quiet right now.

I swung by the Osborn residence, just to make sure Norman was alright. I spotted him on the street outside the tower, getting into his car with two bodyguards keeping watch. I hopped onto the roof of a nearby building to keep an eye out for the Vulture in particular. 

I didn’t see him, but I decided to follow Osborn to wherever he was going, just in case. 

It’s good thing I did, because after only a few minutes I saw the Vulture fly by a nearby skyscraper. Maybe he didn’t see me, or maybe he decided to go for it anyway and deal with me as well, but he swooped down to Osborn’s car. 

I quickly took out my camera and webbed it to the corner of a nearby building, from which it would have a good angle of the scene. It was set to a three second timer after which it would take 16 pictures. I swung forwards, trying to get to the car as quickly as possible. The Vulture tore open the roof of the car, and was about to grab Osborn and fly away when I fired webs at his face to buy me time. It had the effect I wanted, and I was able to get to The Vulture before he could get Norman. I kicked him off the roof as I swung and landed on the car. He flew back a few yards then shot towards me. 

I dodged him, but as it turned out, he wasn’t aiming for me at all.

In dodging The Vulture’s attack, I had basically opened the way for him to grab Norman. After grabbing him, Toomes flew away.

“Crap,” I said. “Get back here, Beaky!” I shot webs from both shooters at him. They both stuck to his wings. I held on to the webs and tried to pull him back, but instead he pulled me along with him. 

Soon I was swinging through New York City behind The Vulture. 

“Woah, Beaky, calm down, will ya?” I yelled at him.

“The name, is VULTURE!” he yelled back.

At that moment, I saw a building up ahead. I was going to slam into the building, whereas The Vulture would pass above it. Not good. 

The only thing I could do before I hit the building was get my legs up, so that I would hit the side of the building with my feet instead of my entire body.

Incredibly, my Spidey-strength allowed me to hold onto the webs even after impact (which hurt like hell, by the way, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be limping for a while), and now that I was sticking to a wall, I was also preventing the Vulture from going any further.

“What?!” the Vulture yelled as he found himself unable to fly forward. “You’re still there?!”

“Yep, still here!” I grunted. I heard a horrible grinding noise, I assumed that Beaky was trying to fly away but my webs were still stuck to his wings, causing some damage to the wings. It was only a question of which would break first, the webs, or the wings.

The answer? Both.

I tried to pull back so that the webs would tear off the wings, which worked actually, but the webs also broke. One of the wings actually flew over me and fell down onto the street below. Thankfully the street was empty.

I heard The Vulture crash onto the roof of the building with Norman. I climbed onto the rooftop, and saw The Vulture on his back, still conscious but groaning in pain after falling twenty feet. Norman had fallen some distance away. He quickly stood up and straightened his suit.

After capturing The Vulture, I handing him over to the police, along with Osborn. 

So that was my first victory against a member of Spider-Man’s rogue gallery. I felt pretty good about it, not gonna lie.

I returned to where the battle had started to get my camera.

All of the shots sucked. Only the first eight or so actually captured the action. And even then, they were pretty bad. 

On top of that, I just realized that my appearance as Spider-Man at the school earlier had probably given other people tons of opportunities to get good photos of me. Now that I think of it, they had been taking pictures of me. That reduced the chances of me getting the prize money even more.

Well, it can’t hurt to try anyway, right? Who knows, maybe I might get the prize money. I did have an action shot, after all. 

[…]

To make a long story short, I didn’t get the prize money.

I walked out of the Daily Bugle an hour after my fight with the Vulture, kind of bummed out. It was still relatively early, so I figured I’d head home, get some rest, then go out again as Spidey. 

I walked past a shop with TVs on display behind a window. All the screens were running the same thing, a live news channel.

The thing that caught my eye was, in fact, the headline. It read:

“BILLIONAIRE CEO TAKEN HOSTAGE BY TERRORISTS IN AFGHANISTAN”

The news anchor was saying, “Just hours ago, CEO of Stark Industries, Tony Stark, was taken hostage by a terror group in Afghanistan, who intercepted the convoy he was travelling in.”

Okay, this confirmed it behind a shadow of doubt. I was in the broader Marvel Universe.

Cool. 

I was still bummed about the Daily Bugle thing, though.


	4. Fingers Crossed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With great power... eh, you know the drill.
> 
> Being a hero ain't peaches and roses, that's for sure.
> 
> Hope you guys like the chapter!

News of Spider-Man’s battle with The Vulture was on TV that night. That is, after they finished the Tony Stark news.

It honestly felt pretty good to see them referring to me as a hero rather than a vigilante.

“Hey, Peter,” Uncle Ben addressed me as we ate dinner that evening. “What do you think about this new Spider-Man fella?”

“Huh? Oh, he seems cool,” I said. “He’s trying to do good. That’s gotta count for something, right?”

“You know,” Uncle Ben said. “Back in my day, there used to be another one like him,” 

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Like, another hero?”

“Sure, called the… uh, The Human Ant or something,”

“I think you mean Ant-Man, darling,” Aunt May said.

“Oh right! Ant-Man, that’s the one,” Uncle Ben said.

Ant-Man… back then? Maybe Hank Pym, I guess? 

“What happened to him?” I asked.

“He retired. Got wrapped up in some controversy. Started acting erratic, endangering innocent lives, that kinda deal. That’s what they said on the news anyway. Eventually he accepted responsibility for what he did and retired in ‘94.”

I’m not too familiar with Hank Pym’s character, but I think something of that sort did happen in the comics.

‘You see, Peter,” Uncle Ben continued. “These sorts of things really show you, that having powers isn’t enough. You gotta have the heart, you gotta have the sense of duty. Ant-Man was a great hero back in the 80s, and 90s, but he fell, and he fell hard. I hope this Spider-Man character doesn’t go down that same road as well, because with great power, comes great responsibility.”

Is… is Uncle Ben like some sort of NPC or something? It’s like he’s been programmed to say that line, no matter what. 

I’ll keep the message in mind though, because anyone with even a vague idea of Peter’s story knows what happens if I don’t.

After dinner, I went into the backyard to take the trash out. 

I was about to head back in when I saw MJ storm out her house next door into her backyard. The fence separating our houses was pretty low, so I could see the other side fairly well.

MJ looked upset; she probably had been crying. I heard shouting from her home. Her parents were arguing again. 

I was caught in a bit of a dilemma. Part of me, motivated by morality, wanted to say something to comfort her, while the other, more selfish, part of me wanted to skip the awkward talk and go inside. Peter Parker didn’t exactly have a way with words, and I sure as hell didn’t. And it’s not like it was any of my business.

But my moral compass overruled my personal desire and I decided to engage.

“Hey,” I said softly.

“Oh, hey,” she said, quickly wiping her tears. She walked over to the fence.

“You okay?” I asked, moving closer as well.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry,” she said as the shouting continued. “Were you listening?”

“Huh? Oh no, no, no, I wasn’t listening. I mean, I heard something, but I-I wasn’t listening.”

God, I sucked at this.

“I’m sorry about that ruckus,” she said. “Your aunt and uncle never shout like that.”

“Oh, believe me, they can shout pretty well.”

That got a smile out of her. “So, where to after high school?” she asked me after a few seconds of silence.

“Oh, I’ll uh…” I trailed off. 

Well, I thought that I’d become a photographer, like in the comics, but after today I decided it would be best to altogether abandon that angle and go for something else.

“… I’ll probably make my way through college. I love science, maybe I’ll become a biologist or something. What about you?” 

“I want to… act… on stage,” she said unsurely. “Be an actress.”

“Hey, that’s wonderful!” I said. “I cried like a baby when you played Cinderella that one time.” 

“Peter, that was first grade,” she said, smiling.

Silence fell between us for a bit. She looked at my face for a bit, then said, “You have blue eyes. I never noticed,”

“Probably because of the glasses,” I said. “I don’t wear them anymore.”

“Really? Why?”

“Don’t need ‘em.”

She moved a bit closer. Our faces were within twelve inches of each other.

“You’re taller than you look, too,” MJ said.

“I hunch,”

“Don’t.”

Make that three inches. My heart was beating faster and faster. 

Before anything could else happen, we were interrupted by a car horn from the driveway of MJ’s house. Flash Thompson and his Cult of Douche were outside in a convertible car. Brand new, by the looks of it.

“Hey, MJ!” Flash yells. “Wanna go for a ride in my birthday present?”

MJ looks back at me, and says, “Thanks a lot, Pete, I enjoyed the talk,”

She then headed off to the driveway to join her friends and roam the city.

After watching her drive away, I decided that a bit of city-roaming was also in order for me.

[…]

After web-slinging through town for a bit, I landed on top of a skyscraper and sat down for a bit. The city was quiet, or at least that’s what my police radio app told me. Since nothing was going down, I decided to scroll through my phone for a bit.

I noticed a text sent by Harry 3 hours ago.

H: yo Pete?

I responded. 

P: what’s up?

His reply came a minute or so later.

H: Where u been all day?

P: oh I went home early

H: spider-man showed up after school today

P: really? No way

H: yes way

P: what did he do?

H: he called out flash for being a bully. It was actually kinda funny

P: did you get it on video 

H: yea, hold on a sec

He sent the video. Watching it made me realize that that whole incident was some seriously shitty decision making on my part. I could’ve run away. Heck, I probably should have run away.

What I did there simply risked exposing my identity. Even if the spot I had chosen to change had been secluded enough, someone could have walked past it.

Okay, from now on, no more of that. I’ll be more careful.

[…]

The rest of the night was mostly uneventful. Which was kind of disappointing; I had been hoping for some action.

I met up with Liz at a café the next evening. Tutoring her was an absolute nightmare. 

I don’t why, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, she would pay a bit of attention, for her own sake. But I guess that was way too optimistic of me.

After an hour and a half of tedious hard work (almost entirely on my part), I said, “Okay, Liz, listen. I’ll give you ten minutes to revise these two pages, then I’ll quiz you.”

Passing her the textbook, I checked my phone for notifications. No new text messages, although a new YouTube video from Jacksepticeye, and Reddit mods removed my meme (gee, what else is new?)

After a few minutes I looked up and saw that Liz was on her phone too, busy texting whoever. She hadn’t even picked up the textbook from where I had put it on the table.

“Liz?” I said.

She didn’t look up from her phone.

“Liz? Hello, earth to Liz?” I said, a bit louder, starting to get annoyed. The change in tone got her to glance up briefly, before turning back to her phone.

That was the last straw for me.

“Okay, you know what?” I said, now seriously frustrated. “We’re done here. If you’re not gonna pay attention, fine by me. You need this tutorship for your grades, but I sure as hell don’t. I’m out!”

I stormed out of the café. Liz looked kind of… shocked? Like, she hadn’t expected anything like that at all from me.

Honestly, seeing that look on her face was satisfying. I’m out here, spending my evenings tutoring her when I could be doing a thousand other things, such as saving people’s lives, and she’s not even paying attention!

I decided to go web-slinging to cool my anger. After diving into an alleyway to change, I headed into the city. 

After swinging through the city for a while, I climbed to the top of Empire State Building and sat down. The fifth-tallest building, it gave me a great view of the whole city. 

Up here the characteristic noise of New York was still audible, but… distant. It was strangely calming. A few minutes of this was just what I needed after that hour and a half of torture.

Now that I my frustration at Liz was gone, I realized that maybe I might have overreacted a bit. Or maybe not. But either way, I still felt a bit guilty leaving her like that. It wasn’t a very gentlemanly thing to do.

Maybe I should go back. Give her a second chance. That’s what Peter Parker is about, right? Second chances.

At that moment, my phone let me know that there was a robbery going down a few blocks away. 

I stood up. Standing on the edge of one of the tallest buildings in New York, I took a deep breath, and jumped.

The cold air hitting my face as I plummeted hundreds of feet downwards, mixed with the rush of adrenaline, made the leap one of the most exciting things I had ever experienced.

I shot a web to a nearby building just in time, and swung forwards. 

Less than a minute later, I arrived where the crime was going down. The robbers, two thugs, were running out of the bank with bags of cash in hand, towards a white van parked outside. 

I dropped down onto the road in front of the criminals’ getaway van. They saw me and stopped in their tracks.

“Wha- you again?!” one of the thugs yelled after seeing me.

“Wait, again?” I said. “Have we met before?”

That’s when I recognized them. They were the two thugs I had stopped in that car chase a few days back.

“Oh!” I said. “It’s you two again? Wow, how did you get out of jail so quickly?”

I webbed the thug nearest to me in the face.

“Ah, fuck!” he yelled. He moved his right hand to his face to try and remove the webbing.

“Nope! Also, I see you haven’t fixed that loose tongue of your,” I said, webbing his hand to his face as well. He stumbled around. I stuck my foot out, causing him to trip and fall. 

I saw the other robber running into an alleyway. I followed him into the alley. 

I fired webs at him. They stuck to his calf, causing him to trip. He managed to get his hands up just in time to break the fall. I webbed his feet together so he couldn’t get up easily. I walked up to him.

“I’ll take that, thank you very much,” taking the bags of cash. The thug reached out and tried to grab his pistol which had fallen a few feet away from him.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” I pulled the gun towards me with my web before he could grab it. 

But he hadn’t been going for the gun. A few inches from where the gun had been was another smaller object. I picked it up.

It was a pendant. I opened it. Inside was a picture of a young girl. His daughter, probably.

“Give that back!” the thug spat at me.

That’s when I put two and two together. This guy was Flint Marko. I don’t why I didn’t recognize him just by his green striped shirt. And on top of that, this was quite possibly the ‘I’m not a bad guy, I just have bad luck’ version of Flint Marko.

“Is this your daughter?” I asked.

“That’s none of your business!” he spat at me.

“You’re doing this because of her, aren’t you?”

“Huh?”

“Let me guess, she’s sick. The surgery is expensive and you don’t have that kind of money, so you’ve resorted to crime, right?”

He looked stunned by what I had just said. “How- how do you know that?”

Okay, that confirmed it. This was the ‘sympathetic’ Flint Marko. I handed him back the pendant.

“I-” I began but before I could say anything else, the police arrived. I had no choice but to hand Marko (and the money obviously) over.

Now that I knew that his daughter was dying, and that saving her could also result in Marko stopping his life of crime, I felt even more inclined to help. I couldn’t just let a young girl die without doing anything about it.

But how was I going to get that money, though? I suppose I could go for a Robin Hood direction. But instead of stealing from the rich I just take the money from criminals. That way the bad people get screwed over while the needy get helped.

I’m Spider-Man, I’m supposed to help people. Look out for the little guy, right? I’m supposed to try, at the very least. And I’ll be damned if I didn’t try in this scenario.

I headed off into the night, on the lookout for more crimes.

[…]

I felt guilty about last night at the café with Liz, so I decided that I’d go up to her today and cool things over.

I didn’t get a chance till the end of the day. I was walking down the hallway with Gwen and Harry, when I saw at her locker alone, getting her stuff.

“Hey, just a sec, guys,” I said to Harry and Gwen. I broke off from them and walked over to Liz.

“Hey, uh Liz?” I asked uncertainly, not knowing what reaction I was going to get from her after last night.

“Okay, Liz, I’m sorry about-” I began but Liz cut me off.

“Peter, I’m sorry, I should’ve paid attention last night,” she said, and she looked sorry, too. “You were right to be mad, I promise I’ll be better from now on.”

peterparkersbrain.exe has stopped working

I… certainly hadn’t been expecting that. It was quite the contrast from her normal mean-girl behavior. I mean, I know that Liz eventually warms up to Peter in the comics, but I hadn’t been expecting that to happen so soon, and so suddenly. Not that I was complaining, but it was certainly odd.

“Oh…” I said. “Okay, no biggie. I overreacted last night, too. Sorry about that. So, uh we can try again tomorrow? Same time, same place?” 

“Sure, that sounds okay,” she said.

“Great! Well, uh-”

“Well, what do we have here? Puny Parker talking to Liz?” a familiar voice said behind me.

I turned around. It was Flash, accompanied by his group of friends. MJ was strangely absent, though.

“Is Parker bothering you, Liz?” a guy who I assume was Liz’s boyfriend asked her.

“He’s just bugging me about the tutorships, it’s no big deal,” she said, her mean-girl attitude back in full swing. She walked past me and joined her friends. Although she did turn around and wave at me quickly as she walked away.

Huh, maybe the mean-girl thing is just an act. Also, yay for me being let off the hook by Flash. Maybe the talk with Spider-Man got to him.

“Are my eyes betraying me, or did I just see Liz wave at you?” Harry said as he and Gwen walked over to join me.

“Yeah, I’d like to know what happened, too,” Gwen said.

“What, you guys don’t think I can have a positive interaction with a girl?”

“Not that one,” Harry said. 

“Well,” I said. “Last night, I sort of… stormed out on her.”

“Really? Why?” Gwen asked.

“She was being a pain in the ass. Though, looking back, that was probably an overreaction on my part,” I said. “I felt kinda bad about it, so I figured I’d apologize to her today. But I wasn’t expecting her to apologize as well.”

“Is that what happened?” Harry asked in disbelief. “Liz apologized? To you? This is a weird day.”

“Who knows, maybe she’s into you?” Gwen said. 

Harry laughed at that.

“Yeah, right, Liz is into him,” he said. “And Peter’s Spider-Man as well! No offence, Pete,”

“Hey, none taken,” I said, and I meant it, too. I was Spider-Man, after all!

[…]

Later that day, me and Gwen arrived at Columbia University for our internships.

When we entered Dr. Connors’ lab, we were certainly caught off guard. Gwen was, at the very least. it took me a minute to get it.

Curt and Martha, their son Billy (who visited the lab sometimes), and Eddie were all there. Dr. Connors was having an arm-wrestling match with Eddie, while Martha and Billy watched eagerly.

Like I said, I didn’t get what was wrong at first. Then I realized that Curt Connors was wrestling with his right arm, aka the arm that was amputated as a result of wartime injuries.

“Oh my god, Dr. Connors!” Gwen exclaimed. “Y-your arm!”

“As good as new!” Connors said happily.

Okay, this was bad. Like, very, very bad. Curt Connors was about to become The Lizard soon. Listening to him describe exactly how he did it was even worse. It was pretty much word-for-word the same way he did it in the comics, and pretty much every comic book fan knows how that turns out.

“Peter?” Dr. Connors asked. “What’s wrong? You look off.”

I guess I hadn’t been hiding my feelings very well.

“It’s just… like, wow!” I said. “I’m actually stunned right now, that’s so amazing!”

“I know, right?” Dr. Connors said happily. “Care for an arm-wrestling match?”

“You’re on!” I said.

I made sure to hold back my strength for the match, enough so that it looked like I was struggling.

“Well, consider me impressed, Peter, you’re tougher than you look!” Connors said after I won.

“Uh… thanks, I guess?”

Okay, maybe it was a bit cheap to let myself win, but I didn’t want to miss a chance to potentially impress Gwen, either.

I was still concerned about the whole Lizard affair, though. But I think I’ll keep that to myself for the time being. I wasn’t gonna let that ruin the day for the others. 

And who knows, maybe Dr. Connors actually got the formula right? Maybe he wouldn’t turn into a big, ugly, super-strong green monster with regenerative abilities.

Besides, it’s not like all big, ugly, super-strong green monsters with regenerative abilities were evil!


	5. Natural Selection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our SI Spidey finds himself facing his least favorite villain. He will win, he always does, but at what cost?
> 
> Also, thanks for being patient on this chapter. I've been caught up in exams (which go on till Feb 11) so until then, expect the update schedule to be spotty.

Later that same night, less than an hour after Peter and Gwen and Eddie had left, Curt Connors and his wife, Martha, still lingered at the lab. Their son Billy was asleep on the couch in Curt’s office.

Martha Connors finished up what she was doing and said, “I’m ready to go home, Curt. You sure you’re not coming?”

Curt was busy examining a sample of some bacteria on the microscope. “Yes, darling, I’m sure. I have some work left to do. Once I finish, I’ll come home.”

“Suit yourself, Curt. I’m taking Billy home as well.”

“Alright.”

She went into the office to get her son. Curt looked up from the microscope and jotted down some notes on his notepad. Martha came out of the office with Billy asleep in her arms.

She kissed her husband on the cheek and went to the exit door of the lab.

“Goodnight, honey- huh?” she said before noticing something off.

“What is it, Martha?” Curt said, turning around to face her. “Something wrong?”

“Turn back around, again,” she said.

“Why?”

“Just do it,”

Curtis turns around again. On the back of his neck, there are a few black scales.

“What is it?” Curt asked.

“Curt, it’s like… you’ve got scales, on the back your neck,” Martha said. “Take off your shirt.”

“What? Why?” Curt asked.

“Curt, just do it,” Martha said. “This might be a problem.”

He reluctantly removed his lab coat and took off his shirt underneath. Sure enough, every few inches or so, there were a few black scales starting to appear.

“Oh my god,” Martha said. “The scales… the lizard DNA… I better call the others!”

“Wait!” Curt said. “Don’t call them! It’s late-”

“Curt it’s only been half an hour since they left,” Martha said, running into the office to put Billy down on the couch, and to call the others. “Besides, we’ll need their help!”

[…]

I headed off into the city pretty much as soon as I got off from the internships. Swinging through New York, on the lookout for crime.

I had to help Flint Marko’s daughter. And for that, I needed money. The best course of action in that sense seemed to be to just take money from criminals.

I would have to be careful not to take too much at a time. If too much money was missing from a crime scene that I, that is to say Spider-Man, had been to, then that would cast suspicion on me. Stealing money is illegal, even if the people you are stealing from are criminals themselves.

Granted, I wasn’t using the money to help myself, in fact, I was using it to save someone’s live. But that wouldn’t exactly hold up in court. 

My phone started ringing. It was Eddie calling. I picked it up.

“Hey Eddie, what’s up?” I asked.

“Bro, Pete, you gotta get down to the lab,” he sounded stressed. “Mrs. Connors called, it’s urgent,”

“Okay, I’m on my way,” I said. “Should I call Gwen too?”

“She’s on her way, you just get here as quickly as possible,”

“Understood,” I hung up.

It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. An emergency at Curt Connors’ lab, especially after he regrew his arm using lizard DNA, could only ever mean one thing.

My least favorite Spider-Man villain had come to be.

I didn’t change out of my Spider-Man costume, I just put my regular clothes on top. I took off the mask and gloves and put them in my jacket pockets.

I got to the lab ten minutes or so after the call. Gwen was already there (damn, that was quick of her). The others were all standing around Dr. Connors, who was sitting at a table, writing something on a notebook.

“Pete, you finally showed up,” Eddie said as I entered the lab.

“What’s going on?” I asked. 

Martha Connors sighed and answered, “Curt’s experiment with his arm went wrong,” she gestured to Curt, who rolled back his sleeve to reveal black, shiny scales on his arm. They hadn’t fully covered his arm yet, but they were starting to.

She continued, “He used lizard DNA for the experiment, which is more primitive than human. And the reptilian part of his brain is growing,”

“It’s growing, I’m regressing,” Dr. Connors grunted, his voice sounding pained. As I got a better look at him, I realized that there were some scales on his face as well. 

Dr. Connors let out a gasp and grabbed his head. 

“Curt, please, you need to keep a clear head,” Martha said.

“No,” Curt said shakily, “You need to hurry. I- argh, I’m losing control,” 

Eddie sighed and looked up from the microscope he was using. “The formula creates new reptile sequences faster than I can ID them. I don’t know how we’ll ever knock them all down,”

I spoke up. “Wait, Eddie, what if we work from the other end. Create a human DNA filter that knocks out the lizard code? Like the noise filter on a cell phone.”

“So that way, we erase all the non-human DNA,” Gwen said.

Eddie scoffed. “Yeah, nice idea bro, but that’s not-”

“No wait!” Martha Connors said. “That could work, a gene cleanser!”

“Y-yes,” Curt grunted. “Yes, I should have seen it before. My notes, they’ll have everything we need.”

I heard the office door creak. I turned around and saw Billy peeking out. When he saw me, he closed the door and went back inside. I went into the office to talk to him. He was probably really shaken up by what was happening.

I entered the office and saw him on the couch, flipping the pages of a book about lizards.

“Hey, Billy,” I said softly. “How long have you been listening?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it, Peter,” he said without looking up from the book he was flipping through. He came to a particular page, and showed me the book.

“Here, the book says that some lizards lay hundreds of eggs, and never see them hatch,” Billy said.

“Uh, okay,” I said, not exactly sure where this was going.

“Most of the babies get eaten by predators,” he said. “And the parents don’t even care, because they’ve only got lizard brains,”

I picked up what he was trying to say. I did my best to comfort him. “Billy,” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder, “Trust me, your father will always care about you,”

“Even… even if he turns into a monster?” he asked in a small voice, a tear rolling down his cheek. I opened my mouth to say something, something, to comfort this little boy who was scared because his dad was turning into a lizard. But before I could say anything, a loud scream came from the lab.

I opened the door and saw Curt Connors on the floor of the lab, clutching his head and yelling. His wife tried to grab him but he pushed her away and tried to crawl away from the others.

His yelling turned into screeching. Horrible, blood-curdling, reptilian screeching. Dr. Connor’s lab coat started to rip as his frame grew larger. His arms and face turned black as they became covered in scales. Sharp claws appeared at the tip of his fingers. A tail appeared as well. His face morphed from that of a human into the that of a lizard. 

Billy let out a gasp from my side. That’s when I realized that he had been watching too. Shit, that was not something a kid should ever see. That was something no one should ever have to see. I pushed Billy inside and told him to stay there.

Dr. Connors, or rather, now, The Lizard, climbed onto a table and let out a roar, showing his sharp, yellow teeth and long tongue. His gaze turned towards Martha.

“Curt…” Martha said, trying to put as much distance between herself and the monster that had until a minute ago, been her husband. “Curt, do you recognize me?”

The Lizard lunged at her. I was too far away to react in time. Luckily, Eddie managed to push her out of the way.

“Doc, listen,” he said. “We just want to help- OOF!”

The Lizard hit Eddie with his tail and sent him flying towards me. I did my best to catch him, but damn was he heavy. The Lizard then jumped out of the window of the lab and ran off into the city.

Dr. Martha and Gwen helped Eddie up, who immediately ran towards the exit.

“Eddie!” Gwen called after him. “Where are you going-?”

“I’m gonna follow the Doc, you finish the gene cleanser! I’ll call in with the location,” he said as he ran out of the door.

I decided now was the time for me to leave as well, while Martha and Gwen were distracted. I turned around but they saw me.

“Peter?” Gwen said. “Where are you going?”

Oh, fuck. What do I say now? I had to leave, otherwise The Lizard would wreak havoc.

Here goes nothing.

“Oh, I have to go home. My aunt and uncle… uh, will ground me if I’m late.”

“What?” Gwen said, outraged by my shitty excuse. “Peter, you can’t leave right now! We need you!”

“I-I can’t be late, they’ll worry!” I grabbed my backpack and ran out the door.

“Peter, wait!” Martha called after me.

I felt horrible having to leave them like that, as if I was genuinely ditching them in the middle of a crisis, rather than actually helping them out. But I guess I’m gonna have to go through a lot of that, from now on. No one ever said this superhero gig was gonna be easy.

I ran into a nearby alley, webbed my bag to the wall, and quickly changed.

I jumped onto a wall and climbed to the top of the building. I jumped and began web swinging through the city in search of The Lizard.

“Now, if I were a 7-foot-5-inch lizard, instead of a 5-foot-7-inch spider, where would I hide?” I said to myself as I swung through the buildings.

I noticed people running out of a subway entrance up ahead. That’s probably where he had gone.

I went down into the subway station, and sure enough, I saw the Lizard wreaking havoc. People were rushing to the exits. 

The Lizard cornered a woman. She had her back against the wall with nowhere to go. He moved in on her, teeth bared.

I swung in and kicked Connors mid-swing. He fell back and the woman ran away to safety. 

The Lizard got back up and lunged at me. I jumped into the air to dodge him, but he grabbed me by the ankle and threw me towards the wall. I hit the wall hard, getting the wind knocked out of my chest. The Lizard then climbed onto the roof of a train that had just pulled up. 

I managed to stick a web to the train just before it left the platform. I flew forwards as the train picked speed. My feet hit the tracks and I started running behind the train, one hand clutching the web attached to the train. 

I grabbed the web with both hands and pulled myself forward, jumping to increase the distance I covered. I landed on top of the train with The Lizard in front of me.

He charged towards me, but I dodged to the side and punched him across the face. That only made him angrier, and he grabbed me by the neck and slammed me into the roof of the train. 

Then he began punching me in the chest over and over, causing the train ceiling to dent more and more, and me to regret getting bit by a damn spider more and more. 

Eventually, the surface became so weak that one last punch from The Lizard sent me through the ceiling into the train compartment below.

I was way too dazed from the ass whooping I had just sustained to get up and fight. The people in the train looked at me and then up at the ceiling from where I had fallen through. 

I tried to get up, almost fell over. 

“Don’t worry, folks,” I said to the people in the train as I got up. “I’ve got everything under- ow, my back- everything under control.” I climbed out of the hole I had made in the roof of the compartment, only to find that the Lizard was… nowhere to be seen.

He could be hiding; I couldn’t let my guard down.

Sure enough, The Lizard attacked me from behind at frightening speed. If I hadn’t just gotten the snot beaten out of me, I probably would have been able to respond to the Spider-Sense in time and dodge. But instead, I got punched off the train. I fell to the tracks as the train pulled up just ahead at the next station.

I saw the passengers run out of the train and go to the exits. The Lizard didn’t attack any of them. Instead, he jumped off the train, and began crawling the walls of the tunnel. I watched him crawl out of sight further into the tunnel.

Well, so much for that plan.

I got up. Every part of my body hurt. The thing about Spider-Man, he was pretty damn strong, but most of his villains were usually more powerful.

I needed some serious upgrades to my gear.

The gene cleanser might be done by now though. I left the subway and made my way back to the lab as Spider-Man.

I found Gwen and Martha Connors working on the gene cleanser.

“Is it done?” Gwen was saying.

“Yes,” Martha said. “At least, it squares up with Curt’s notes. The only way to know for sure is to test it on him. The problem is, his hide is too thick, so we can’t inject it. We’ll have to get him to drink it.”

“How on earth are we gonna do that?” Gwen asked.

“I could help you with that,” I said, announcing my presence.

“Spider-Man?” they both said, clearly taken aback by my sudden arrival.

“Yep, it’s me. Anyway, I can help with the gene cleanser,”

“How did you know we needed your help?” Gwen asked.

“Call it, uh, Spider-Sense, I guess,” I replied.

At that moment, Eddie’s came from Martha’s phone. She had Eddie on speaker mode.

“Dr. Connors is at the Bronx Zoo,” he said. “Is the gene cleanser ready?”

I grabbed the vial containing the cleanser and said, “Tell your friend to stay clear of The Lizard. I’m on my way.”

[…]

“Who was that?” Eddie asked after Spider-Man left the lab with the cleanser.

“Our friendly neighborhood hero,” Martha said. “He’s on his way and so am I,”

She grabbed an extra flask of the gene cleanser and moved to the exit of the lab. “Gwen, can you stay here with Billy?” she said.

“Yeah, of course!”

Gwen ran into the office to check on Billy, while Martha left the lab with the extra gene cleanser.

Gwen opened the door of the office, only to find it completely empty. Billy was not there.

“Oh no… Doctor Martha!”

[…]

I arrived at the Bronx Zoo with the trusty gene cleanser. I found Eddie outside the Reptile World.

“Hey,” I said, landing next to him.

“Aah! Oh, Spider-Man,” Eddie said. “You’re here,” 

“Yep,” I said. “Got the gene cleanser with me as well,”

“I think he’s in there,” Eddie said, pointing to the Reptile World. “With all the other creepy lizards.”

“Okay, stay put. I’ll get him,” I told him. I went inside.

“Oof, it’s like a sauna in here,” I said as I entered the building. There were lizards and other reptiles crawling all over the place, so I decided to stick to the walls.

I saw an artificial swamp up ahead. It was pretty big and probably pretty deep. There was a good chance that The Lizard might be hiding in there. Sure enough, I saw The Lizard’s head out of the water, swimming around in the pond.

I positioned myself on the wall, waited for the right moment, then jumped towards The Lizard, ready to grab its head and force the gene cleanser down its throat.

I hit the water and grabbed The Lizard by the back of his head. He roared, giving me an opening to make him drink the cleanser.

Only problem here, was that this was not actually the Lizard. In fact, it was just a regular old crocodile. The real Lizard, according to my Spider-Sense, just emerged from the water behind me.

Fuck.

I tried to get out of the water, but I was too slow, and the Lizard wrapped his arms around me and went underwater. I tried to break free from his clutches, but I couldn’t, not to mention the fact that I was holding my breath which made it harder. I tried as best as I could, but was unsuccessful and slowly started to lose consciousness.

Luckily, before I blacked out, my old buddy the crocodile from like, a minute ago, came to my rescue. And by ‘rescue’, I mean trying to fight The Lizard for its dinner i.e., me.

Either way, the Lizard had to let go of me to fend of the crocodile. I drifted to the surface, semi-conscious. I was picked out of the water by none other than Eddie.

“I thought I told you to stay put,” I said.

“Are you complaining?” Eddie asked incredulously.

“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” I said. I let out a sigh, “The Lizard’s not in the mood for drinking his medicine. Not when he’s enjoying his play-date in the heated pool,” I said, watching the Lizard wrestle the croc in the swamp.

Wait… Lizard, heated pool…

Time for a convenient epiphany!

“Listen, Edd- uh, dude,” I said. “I have an idea, follow me.”

I ran outside, Eddie right behind me.

We ran to where the Polar Bear caves were. There was a pool of cold water outside the artificial caves.

“Here,” I said. “The fake swamp was heated, but dunk a reptile in freezing polar bear water, and he’ll slow up!”

“Riiiiight,” Eddie said, a grin starting to appear on his face, “Slow enough for someone to force the gene cleanser down his throat!”

“Exactly.”

“All we need is some bait to lure him out with,” Eddie said. “Some lizard bait,”

He ran off.

“Where are you going?” I yelled after him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. You just make sure everything else here is ready!” he yelled back.

“I got a bad feeling about this,” I said to myself as I watched him run off. Eddie was a smart guy, at least in this universe, he was. He wouldn’t do anything too stupid, right?

I decided to get ready, as he had requested.

Firstly, make sure the polar bears don’t go for a midnight swim. Easy enough. I webbed up the entrances of the caves.

Secondly, get a good angle from where I could pounce on The Lizard and get him to drink the gene cleanser.

Also easy. There was a good spot on top of the caves that would get me a good angle to attack, and keep me out of sight as well.

I got into position, and waited. After maybe a minute or so, Eddie came running out of the reptile house, the Lizard chasing him.

Okay, I take back what I said about how Eddie wouldn’t do anything dumb. 

Eddie was a good distance ahead of his pursuer; he was already halfway to the pool by the time The Lizard came into sight. Even if The Lizard was much faster, he would probably make it to the pool without getting caught. This was my one chance, and I couldn’t blow it.

Unfortunately, Eddie tripped over an uneven concrete tile and fell.

Jesus Christ, Eddie, we are NOT IN A HORROR MOVIE!

The Lizard caught up to him, and opened his mouth and let out a roar as he towered above his prey. Well, the pool plan was botched, and I had to do something quick, otherwise Eddie could possibly die.

I got up and web-swung myself towards Connors, gene cleanser in hand. The element of surprise was crucial to success here. 

And that’s when my phone rang, mid-swing.

Always silence your phones when you’re relying on stealth, kids.

The Lizard was alerted to my presence, and he swatted me away with his tail. I fell to the ground. Thankfully the gene cleanser flask stayed in my hand and didn’t break. The Lizard began walking towards me, teeth bared and ready to finish me off.

I tried to push myself back to put as much distance between the two of us. I could try to run, or web-sling away, but the odds of any of those options succeeding seemed low. There was too little distance between me and Connors, and he was too fast; he would probably grab me before I could fully get away.

Just then, a voice shouted, “Dad, stop!”

A weird mixture of relief and simultaneously, dread washed over me. I was relieved because something took the Lizard’s attention off of me, and worried because of what that thing was.

Billy Connors, Curt’s son. 

“Bi- I mean, kid, stay away from him!” I yelled.

“No! He’s not a monster, he’s my dad! He won’t hurt me!”

The Lizard’s expression softened ever so slightly as he looked at Billy. Almost as if, he recognized his son again. All of a sudden, he didn’t look quite so hostile.

Well, that was my opening! I jumped up and quickly punched my reptilian foe across the face with a good deal of force behind it. 

“No!” Billy yelled as Connors hit the ground. I jumped on top of him, and opened the gene-cleanser flask. The Lizard roared at me, which, despite bombarding me with horrible breath, was just what I needed, and I poured the liquid down his throat, causing him to instinctually swallow it.

I got off from on top of him. The Lizard writhed and rolled around on the ground in what was probably pain or discomfort, letting out blood-curdling screeching noises while doing so.

But what was done was done. The large, black scaled, reptilian monster that was The Lizard, was now transforming back into the intelligent, respectable, and one-armed Dr. Curtis Connors.

After the transformation was complete, I helped Dr. Connors up and sat him down on a nearby bench. He was drowsy and semi-conscious. At that moment, Martha Connors arrived with Gwen.

“We’re here-” Martha said, but then she saw what had happened. “Oh, you… you did it… it worked, the cleanser worked!” she sounded overjoyed to have her husband back.

“And you!” she said, suddenly addressing Billy. “Never, ever scare me like that again!” she pulled both her husband and her son in for a hug. 

“Thank you, Spider-Man,” she said to me. “For bringing my husband back,”

“Anytime, Doc, it’s what I do,” I said. Now that the adrenaline was subsiding, I realized just how much my body hurt from head to toe.

Eddie ruffled Billy’s hair. “How’d you even get here, kiddo?” he asked him.

“On my skateboard,” Billy said simply.

Eddie looked around for a bit, then said, “And where’s Peter?”

“He… didn’t come,” Gwen answered, sounding kinda pissed about me. “He said his aunt and uncle would worry if he stayed out late,”

“Wha- what?!” Eddie sputtered, astounded. “Seriously?! He couldn’t have called his aunt and uncle and told them there was an emergency? He- he- ohhhhh my God! I expected him to have a bit more of a spine,”

“Eddie, it’s okay,” Curt said weakly. “He’s only 17, it’s perfectly understandable that he’d be scared,”

“She’s 17!” Eddie said, gesturing to Gwen. 

“Uh, I should get going,” I said, now starting to get uncomfortable. “Crime-fighting to do and all. Also, it’s Eddie, right?” I said addressing (guess who?) Eddie, who nodded in response.

“Yeah, thanks for the help, man!” I said to him. “But, uh maybe next time, don’t use yourself as bait, okay?”

“Wait, what?” Martha asked.

“Okay, byeeee!” I said as I swung away. First order of business, call back Uncle Ben to let him know why I was running late.

[…]

The story of Spider-Man’s battle with The Lizard was on the news, the next day. Miraculously, it seemed that none of the identities of the people involved (Martha, Curt, Billy, Gwen and Eddie) had been revealed. So nobody knew who the Lizard actually was.

All the better. Somethings are better left a mystery.

I decided I had put off making major upgrades to my suit long enough. Certain villains like The Vulture could be handled with the basic gear, but villains like The Lizard were much, much more difficult to beat. 

True, I likely wouldn’t be facing The Lizard again, because Martha and Curt, being two very smart people, would probably destroy the lizard formula and put it behind them.

But even so, Spider-Man didn’t exactly have a small rogue’s gallery. Villains like Green Goblin, Doc Octopus and Venom et cetera were still yet to come. And I would have to be ready for them.

I spent most of the school day day-dreaming about said upgrades and how I was gonna pull them off. After the day ended and I was getting my stuff from my locker, I heard someone call my name.

“Peter! Peter!” I turned around and saw Gwen looking at me, hands on her hips.

“Oh, hey Gwen,” I said.

“Peter, what was that?!”

“Uh… what was what?”

“That stunt you pulled yesterday!” she said. “How could you ditch us in the middle of a crisis like that!”

“I didn’t- ugh, listen, I didn’t mean to leave you guys like that but, like I said, my aunt and uncle worry and-” I tried to explain myself, but she cut me off.

“I don’t wanna hear any excuses, Pete,” she said. “I know, it was scary, I was scared too. We all were. But you could have at least helped out with the gene cleanser! We’re friends, Pete… we’re supposed to help each other.”

“Gwen, I- hey, don’t walk away from me! Gwen, c’mon!” I said as I watched her stalk away.

Goddamit, I’m the one who got his ass beat by a giant lizard! I was the one who made Connors drink the damn gene cleanser! And yet I’m the one getting shat on.

I know I’ve said this a million times at this point, but being Spider-Man sucked. 

Being Peter Parker sucked.


	6. Encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter's day gets off to one hell of a start. And by that, I literally mean hell.
> 
> But, for once, it gets better later on! Hooray!

The Lizard incident, after the initial horror was over, turned out to be something of a blessing in disguise. 

Our internships were put off for a week. In part, because we all needed some time to recover from it, and also because the lab was pretty much wrecked. 

That meant that I had more free time, meaning more time to go out as Spider-Man, meaning more time to gather money to help Flint Marko’s daughter. 

It also meant that I could work on my upgraded suit.

Spider-Man, despite possessing incredible speed, strength and agility (not to mention Spider-sense), was still not as powerful as some of his more notable villains such as The Green Goblin, Venom, Doctor Octopus et cetera.

Getting my ass kicked by The Lizard was really just a demo.

Today was Friday, meaning that I had the whole weekend ahead of me to develop some upgrades.

Or so I thought. 

Being that the day was Friday, aka the last school day of the week, our teachers saw fit to drop a truck-load of homework on us.

Between my increased homework, crimefighting, and tutoring Liz today, as well as on Saturday, I would basically have zero time to upgrade my gear. 

Well, that fucking sucks!

Speaking of Liz, her attitude had considerably improved since my outburst during our first lesson. She actually paid attention now and tried to learn.

She was also a lot nicer to me. Not just during the tutorships, but also during school. Although, whenever Flash Thompson or his cronies were around, she’d revert back to her original mean-girl attitude. 

Well, she did have an ‘image’ to maintain, or else she’d risk getting isolated by her friends. But at least she was starting to warm up to me!

And it’s not like I’m allowed to criticize someone else for playing a persona.

[…]

At lunch, the coach made an announcement, saying that the Midtown High Mustangs were holding tryouts over a three-day period (starting that afternoon after school), for a new tight end. Apparently, the guy in the starting lineup broke his leg and was out of commission, and the backup was suspended from the school.

Harry said he was trying out for the football team (and by ‘football’ I mean American football, not ‘soccer’), and I promised to come watch. 

I wasn’t liking Harry’s chances, since he wasn’t particularly well-built, but I was gonna be optimistic, for Harry’s sake.

Arriving at the tryouts, it appeared that I was not the only one Harry had invited. Gwen was also sitting in the bleachers. 

I went over and sat down next to her.

“Oh, what a surprise,” she said upon my arrival. “You actually showed up for your friend for once,” 

I mean, not to discredit her intelligence or anything, but there’s a pretty big difference between battling a giant lizard and watching high school football tryouts.

“Gwen will you stop? I’m getting tired of this,” I said.

“Peter, you abandoned us at the worst possible time,” she said. “Do you seriously expect me to not be mad at you? And it’s not just me, even Eddie’s pissed!”

I stayed silent for a few moments. God, I hated this conversation. I hated having one of my own friends think of me as a selfish coward who ditched her at the worst time.

I was the exact opposite! I helped them! Without me, they might not have gotten the gene cleanser to Connors at all.

Part of me considered telling her the truth. That way I could gain her trust back. Besides, I could rely on Gwen to keep my secret; she didn’t seem the type who would let slip something like Spider-Man’s secret identity.

But every other part of my brain was screaming at me not to do it, so I didn’t. It was stupid. It’s called a ‘secret’ identity for a reason. 

“Listen,” I said. “What can I do to make it up to you?”

She simply scoffed but said nothing. That pissed me off, and I got up and relocated to a different seat.

I really hadn’t cared for American football in my previous life, and apparently Peter didn’t either, because I really didn’t know what was going on in the tryouts, no way to know for sure whether Harry was doing well or not. But I guess I’d find out eventually.

After the tryouts, I caught up with Harry outside school. Gwen was talking to him, but when she saw me coming, she bailed.

Jesus, this was getting annoying.

“Hey, Harry,” I said, walking up to him. “How’d it go?”

“It went okay…” Harry said unsurely. “The final verdict’s gonna be on Sunday.”

He watched Gwen walk away, before turning back to me. “So… did you guys, like, have a fight or something?”

“It’s… complicated,” I said. 

At that moment, I felt my Spider-Sense go off like crazy. I turned around in time to see someone with a pair of wings flying towards me and Harry.

“Harry, get down!” I yelled and pushed him out of the way.

Harry got out of the way, I did not.

The Vulture grabbed me by the shoulders with his clawed feet and flew off.

“Wha- you again?” I shouted at The Vulture as we flew hundreds of feet above ground through downtown New York. “I- I mean, Spider-Man locked you up!”

Man, they really needed better security prisons. It hadn’t even been two weeks since I got rid of Toomes, and now he was out and about again.

“I escaped!” he looked down at me. “Wait, you’re not Osborn’s son!”

“Well, took you long enough to- WAAH!” I started to say but he let go of me, causing me to plummet way down back to the ground. Instinctually, I tried to shoot webs, but my web-shooters were in my bag, which was still on my back.

Luckily, instead of falling hundreds of feet, I managed to fall on the rooftop of a nearby building. I may have fallen 50 feet instead of hundreds, but it still hurt like hell. 

I lay on the rooftop in agony for a few moments, before getting my Spider-ass back up to chase down the Vulture before he could get to Harry. 

I quickly changed into my Spider-suit, webbed my bag to the side of the building, and set off after Toomes. 

So, he was back out of prison. Looks like he still had it in for Norman. Only this time, he was willing to abduct Harry to get to him.

I caught up with The Vulture a short distance away.

“Heyyy, is that my favorite bird-themed supervillain?” I called him.

“Hah! You again!” Toomes spat at me.

“Beaky, it is you!” I said in mock happiness. “Say, how’d you even get out of prison so quickly? Did you like- oof!”

The Vulture took a sharp turn my way and collided with me. Being that it’s actually pretty hard to make quick turns in mid-air, especially in mid-swing, I couldn’t dodge in time. The impact sent me flying into a nearby building. I crashed through the window into the room inside.

“Miss Brant! Why is Spider-Man in my office?!” I heard a voice say angrily.

I looked up and saw none other than the madman J. Jonah Jameson himself sitting behind his desk, a cigarette in his hand.

“Oh, hey JJ,” I groaned as I got up. “Big fan of your work,” and with that, I went back out the window.

“Tell you what, Spider-Man’s a MENACE!” I heard him scream at poor Miss Brant as I jumped back out into the city.

I followed The Vulture again. I almost caught up with him before colliding with yet another object that came flying out from around the corner.

Whatever it was that I hit, it was hot. And not ‘hot’ like Mary Jane, but ‘hot’ as in the bad, extremely warm sense.

The force of the impact sent me, once again, flying into a building. I hit the building and plummeted well over a hundred feet to the ground and blacked out.

Jesus this was turning out to be a shitty day. This time for both Peter Parker, and Spider-Man.

[…]

I woke up in an unfamiliar environment. I was in a bed. The room was mostly dark save for a lamp on my nightstand. There was a window directly in front of my bed, but the curtains were drawn, so I couldn’t really tell what time of day it was.

I sat up. My body was a bit sore, but nothing felt broken. 

At that moment the door of the room opened and a man entered.

“Ah, Mr. Parker, you’re finally awake! Wonderful!” he said.

He walked over to the window and pulled the curtains open. It was still bright outside. Maybe only an hour or two had passed since I blacked out.

Or maybe a whole day.

“Where am I?” I asked the man. “Am I in a hospital?”

“Well, you would have been, under normal circumstances,” the man said. “But that would have risked compromising your identity. Something tells me you wouldn’t like that.”

At that moment I realized that I had blacked out in my costume, and I wasn’t currently wearing it. That got me freaking out.

“Wha- where’s my suit? Who-?” I started sputtering.

The man chuckled. “Relax, kiddo. Your secret is safe with me. You’re inside the Baxter Building, home of the Fantastic Four.”

As I got a better look at the man, I noticed his brown-and-white hair. He wasn’t wearing the iconic uniform of the Fantastic Four right now, but this was certainly Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic. 

Okay, so maybe the day wasn’t as bad as I thought.

“Fantastic Four? Are you guys, like, superheroes as well?” I asked.

Obviously, I knew who and what the Fantastic Four were, but it would make sense that I would be curious or confused. After all, they didn’t know that I was an SI.

Reed Richards chuckled lightly and said, “Yeah, I guess you could call us that. How’re you feeling?”

“I’m… fine,” I said. “Uh, how long was I out?”

“About an hour and a half. You took quite a fall. But it looks you made it through just fine. Hell, you didn’t even break anything,”

“Wait,” I said, suddenly remembering something. “What about The Vulture? What happened after I blacked out?”

“Well, the reason you blacked out was because you collided with Johnny, one of my more reckless teammates,” Reed said. “You fell to the ground, I rescued you and told the others to go after The Vulture. I quickly dropped you off here, and went off to join my teammates. Though, by the time I rejoined them, they had already dealt with Toomes. 

“I’m not the fastest member of the team you see, that’s Johnny. But unfortunately, Johnny can only fly when his power’s activated, in which case he would be covered in flames. Don’t worry though, we’ve taken care of Toomes and your friend is safe. We’ve also smoothed everything over with the authorities. They know you, and by that, I mean Peter Parker, not Spider-Man, is with us,”

Okay, that was good news. I stood up slowly. My legs felt a bit wobbly, but I didn’t fall.

“Perhaps you should rest a bit more,” Reed Richards said as I got up.

“Nah, I’m okay, thanks,” I said.

“Suit yourself, then. You do seem mostly unscathed.”

“Uhh, where’s my stuff?” I asked. My schoolbag was probably still webbed to the side of that building, but my suit should be here.

“Ah, yes, right this way,” Richards said, leading me out the door into a hallway. “I hope you don’t mind, but while you were out cold, I examined your suit a bit. Just to see the mechanics,”

“So, uh,” I said, as the two of us walked down the corridor. “How come I’ve never heard of you guys before? Was this your debut or something?”

“Yes, actually,” he replied. “This was our first public appearance as a team.”

That’s cool. I was the first person ever saved by the Fantastic Four.

We ran into a blond dude in the corridor coming out of one of the rooms. 

“Ah, here we have Johnny, aka The Human Torch,” said Richards. “He’s the reason you ended up back in that room. Johnny, this is Peter,”

“Oh, hi,” Johnny said with a charming smile, extending his hand for me to shake. “Yeah, sorry ‘bout that back there.”

“It’s cool,” I said, shaking his hand.

“You took quite the tumble,” Johnny said. “But you made it through just fine! Who would’ve thought that the amazing Spider-Man that we’ve been hearing so much about for the past few weeks was just a kid,”

“Yeah, well, you should never judge a book by its cover,” 

Or rather in this case, a hero by his costume.

“Well, see ya guys around!” Johnny said, and he moved past us towards the window on the other end of the corridor. “I’m off on a date with a hot, hot, girl!”

I’m not sure if the ‘hot’ thing there was intentional or not, but I certainly hoped it wasn’t. 

Reed led me to the elevator. We got in, and he pressed the button for the 33rd floor. The elevator opened into what I assumed was Reed Richards’ lab, judging by the many scientific devices and machines.

“Woah,” I said, taking in the sight of the lab. I may not be the geek Peter was, but even so, the lab was really cool-looking. Especially since I actually knew what some of the stuff did. “This is awesome, doc.”

“Thank you very much,” he said back. “Anyway, here we are,”

He walked over to a table where my suit was laid out. 

“All things considered, I was quite impressed with what you have here,” Reed said.

“Really?” I asked, slightly taken aback that someone like Reed Richards was impressed with my handiwork.

“All things considered, yes,” he replied with a smile. “The suit, the web-shooters, and the webbing itself are very impressive work, especially for a teenager such as yourself,”

He put a strange sort of emphasis on the word ‘teenager’. 

“Hey, not all teenagers are dumb,” I said with a grin. “Most of us are, but not all.”

“Clearly not,” he said. He paused for a while, before saying, “You know, if you like, I could make you an upgraded suit. If you want, that is,”

Huh. I probably should take him up on that offer. Reed Richards was an actual fucking genius, not to mention that he was also a billionaire, with a whole bunch of cool machines and gadgets and whatnot. He could probably make a kickass Spider-suit for me.

“I mean… sure, okay,” I said somewhat sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head. “If it’s not too much trouble, then yes, please,”

“Very well Mr. Parker, I’ll give it my all. It might take some time though. I’ll let you know as soon as I finish it,”

“Seriously, doc, thanks a lot! You’re the best,”

“My pleasure,”

I hung around the lab for a few more minutes, talking with Richards about tech and science and other nerdy shit. But I decided it wouldn’t be nice to overstay my welcome.

“Hey, thanks for everything, Dr. Richards, I really appreciate the help,” I said. “But I should really get going,”

I took my suit, and made my way back to the elevator. A sudden thought crossed my mind, causing me to stop in my tracks.

“Something wrong, Peter?” Dr. Richards asked, noticing my abrupt halt. “Do you need help finding the exit?”

“No, it’s not that,” I said, slowly turning around to face him. “Listen Doc, you’ve helped me out a lot today, I honestly feel kinda bad asking this, but uh… can I... ask you one more favor?”

“Be my guest,” he said in response.

“The thing is, a while back, I caught a crook,” I said. “Just a regular two-bit thug. But I realized that the only reason he was doing crime, was to… save his daughter. She’s sick, you see, and the surgery was expensive. The guy had no alternative, so he had to resort to crime,”

Reed Richards stroked his chin, but didn’t say anything.

“I tried to get the money myself,” I continued. “But so far, it’s too little, and it’s taken me too long to get it. I’m not sure how much longer the girl has, but I’m starting to worry that I might not save her in time.”

Reed remained silent for a moment or two. Then he spoke up, “No need to worry, Spider-Man, I’ll do my best. What was the name of the criminal?”

“Flint Marko, and his daughter’s name is, uh… Penny, I think,” I said, retrieving the name from my recollection of Spider-Man 3. 

“Consider it done,” he said.

“Oh god, thank you so much, Doc. You’re a saint! I owe you, big time!” I said, and I meant it, too. The thought of failing to save Penny Marko had been riding on my head for the past week. It was a huge relief knowing that the girl was more-or-less okay now. Reed Richards could easily afford the operation.

After showering Richards with gratitude, I went to the elevator. Instead of going down, I went up. To the roof.

Once on the roof, I changed into my Spider-suit, and jumped off the building. 

Okay, first thing’s first, retrieve my bag.

I had put my phone in the bag when I had changed into costume earlier that day against The Vulture. When I got to the bag and took out my phone, I saw there were five missed calls from Uncle Ben, three from Harry, and four from Gwen. But most surprisingly, three from Liz.

Oh boy. 

I called back Uncle Ben first, to let him know that I was okay and what had happened.

On my way home I called back the other three as well, starting with Harry.

“Oh thank god, Pete!” Harry said as he picked up. “I was worried sick!”

“Don’t worry, Har,” I said. “I’m okay. What about you? The Vulture didn’t get you, did he?”

“Nah, those other guys, the Fantastic Four or whatever, stopped him. But seriously Pete, if something had happened to you…”

“Hey, c’mon don’t say that now,” I said. “Anyway, I’ll catch up with you later, right now I gotta talk to Gwen.”

Gwen picked up almost immediately after I hit call. She was even faster than Harry, god bless her.

“Hello? Peter? Are you okay?” she said, sounding just as worried, if not more, than Harry had been. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” I assured her. 

“Oh, thank god!” she said, sounding super relieved. “Listen, I’m sorry about today, I shouldn’t have acted like that-”

“No, no, no,” I said. “Don’t say that, you had every right to be mad. I was a jerk for leaving you guys behind back then. I promise I won’t do it again.”

I mean, yeah, I was Spider-Man, blah blah blah. But I couldn’t tell her that, so I decided it was best to just suck it up and put this whole mess behind me.

Next up was Liz.

“Petey? Are you okay? Where are you right now?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay, Liz, I’m on my way home,” I reassured her. “Also, Petey?”

“Um… sorry?”

I laughed a bit at that. It was kinda adorable.

“Nah it’s alright,” I said. “Also, uh Liz? Do you mind if we skip the tutorship tonight?”

“No, no of course not! That must have been terrifying back there! You need the day off,”

“Okay, but we’re still going tomorrow,” I reminded her.

The fact that they had all sounded so relieved that I was alright, even Liz, was honestly kinda heartwarming. 

First thing I did when I got back home was crash on my bed.

Well technically, that was the second thing I did.

Upon entering the house, I was smothered by Aunt May and Uncle Ben’s hugs.

After reassuring them that I was 100 percent fine, and that the mysterious superhero team had treated me well, they let me go.

I went to my room and collapsed on the bed. I pulled out my phone and started scrolling. News of the Fantastic Four’s debut, and their battle with the Vulture was trending.

So was Spidey getting his ass whooped.

Well, you win some, you lose some.

The day had started out absolute shit, but it had taken a pretty solid turn for the better by the end. I had gotten to know the Fantastic Four, was going to get a sweet upgraded suit, and was also getting Penny Marko the money for her surgery.

One thing’s for certain. I may have gotten Reed Richards to solve my immediate problem for me, but I had to make sure that this didn’t become a regular thing. I couldn’t be a burden on my allies. So from now on, I’ll only ask for their help if absolutely necessary.

After a while of scrolling, I decided to close my eyes and get some rest. But I wasn’t really tired, and Reddit was calling out to me, so I decided to go back to my phone.

After maybe five minutes or so of browsing my Reddit feed, I heard something, like a small pebble of sorts, hit the window pane. I got up and walked over to the window. 

It was MJ, leaning out her bedroom window. She waved at me. I opened the window.

“Hey, MJ,” I said. 

“Hey, Pete,” she said in return. “How’s your day?”

“Uh, pretty… bad, actually,” I said.

“Really? Why?” she asked. 

That got me kinda confused. How did she not know what happened today? 

That’s when I remembered she hadn’t stuck around for the tryouts. Even so, she must have heard the news or someone else must have told her.

“Um, I sorta… got attacked by the Vulture,” I said. “Crazy old guy with wings? Spider-Man fought him a couple weeks back?”

“The… what?” she said, confused. Then her confusion turned to concern. “Wait, really? Oh my god, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Honestly, seeing her fret about me like that was adorable. Also touching. 

Today I had learnt just how many people care about me, and it felt pretty good knowing so many people did.

“Yeah, I’m okay, don’t worry about it,” I said. “So, uh, how… how was your day?”

“It was alright,” she said, a bit quietly. She brushed a strand of hair out of her face, before saying in a small voice, barely audible, “Umm, can I… have your number?”

“Sorry, didn’t catch that last bit,” I said.

“Can I have your, uh… your phone number?” she said, a bit clearer this time.

Well, I wasn’t gonna say no to a pretty girl asking me for my number, so I gave it to her.

“So, uh do you wanna… maybe hang out some time?” I asked, a bit nervously, after we had exchanged numbers.

“Of course,” she said with a smile. “When?”

“How about Sunday?” I suggested.

“Sure, Sunday sounds good,” MJ said.

“Okay, great!” I said. “I’ll let you know the time.”

“Okay, see ya around, Pete,” she said, and she blew a kiss at me.

I pretended to catch it in mid-air. “I’ll keep this safe,” I said, getting a laugh out of her. She went back into her room, as did I.

I would head out back into the city as Spider-Man maybe an hour or two later. 

This day had really made a comeback towards the end. Not only had I gotten myself a sweet upgraded suit (well I actually hadn’t got it yet, but I would, soon) and taken care of the Penny Marko situation, but I had also just successfully asked out a cute girl!

Not too bad, if I do say so myself!


	7. Purrrfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter deals with a few things the night before his date with Mary Jane. That includes running into a certain feline foe
> 
> Enjoy!

Heading back out into the city that night, I was in a great mood.

Having asked out Mary Jane Watson on a date successfully can be a big-morale booster.

Oh, and I also had a kickass new Spider-suit in development by none other than Reed Richards himself.

All things considered, good stuff!

As all good non-flying superheroes tend to do, I found a nice, tall building with a cool-looking stone gargoyle to sit on, gazing down at the city. 

I took in the sight of New York at nighttime. And that’s when my weird, hormonal teenage body decided it was a nice time to have an existential crisis.

A little over a month ago, I had been shot, killed, and reincarnated as one of the most iconic superheroes of all time. I had been given a second chance to live.

So far, I hadn’t really made the most of that second chance. True, it had only been a month or so. In other words, not a terribly long period of time. 

But I didn’t want to waste it. I had spent that time more or less just being Spider-Man/Peter Parker.

Now while that may sound cool, like, ‘oh, I’m Spider-Man, blah blah blah,’ but it actually wasn’t that great.

Sure, being Spider-Man was dope, but what I meant was that being Peter Parker sucked. Because of Pete’s secret identity, he often ended up letting down those close to him.

Much like I had in my previous life! 

Only difference here being that I hadn’t needed a secret identity to ruin my friendships.

Fuck that shit.

I got reborn as a superhero, and I wasn’t gonna waste my second life being the exact same loser I had been in my first.

Okay, from now on, I would be a better Peter Parker. One that didn’t let people walk all over him, one that didn’t let his life be a big pile of dogshit because of his crime-fighting routine.

Just one problem.

How the fuck was I actually gonna do that? 

I had been a pathetic, broke ass college student back in my previous life. Sure, I had made up my mind to change that plenty of times, but I had never actually succeeded. 

So, what chances did I have of succeeding this time around? What guarantee was there that I was gonna actually be able to change my life?

Absolutely zero.

But god damn it, I was gonna try. 

One of the first things that popped into my mind was my secret identity. Should I… tell someone? Someone I know for a fact that I could 100% trust, like Gwen Stacy? 

Most superheroes tend to have at least one partner, super or otherwise, who knows their identity and helps them out. Iron Man has War Machine and Pepper Potts, Batman has Alfred and a dozen Robins and Batgirls. Other heroes have whole teams. It would make sense that I have such partners too, preferably sooner rather than later. 

Maybe it’s a bit selfish of me to loop Gwen into the dangerous world of Spider-Man, maybe it’s selfish of me not to, but I honestly don’t know.

I would have to think it over a lot more.

I also needed to improve my fighting skills. Although that one was maybe optional, since with my new suit I doubted I would really need it. Still helped to be good at it, though. 

But right now, there were crimes that needed stopping!

[…]

I spent a good chunk of the next day doing homework, but I also did a bit of research. I wanted to know what other superheroes there were in this world. 

I knew Hank Pym’s Ant-Man was a thing. Or more accurately, had been a thing. The Fantastic Four were already active, and Tony Stark had been stuck in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan for a few weeks now.

Firstly, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America:

According to Google, yes. Steve Rogers did exist, though he was presumed dead. 

Secondly, S.H.I.E.L.D:

No.

Not according to Google at least. I imagine S.H.I.E.L.D was still a secret agency.

Thirdly, Charles Xavier:

Yes, although there was no evidence to suggest that the X-Men were a thing yet.

A quick look on the world map also told me that Wakanda, Latveria and all the other fictional nations of the Marvel Universe also existed.

Hoping against hope, I decided to look up Gotham City, and found… nothing. And the only thing that showed upon googling Batman was a city in Turkey 

Well, it was worth a shot.  
[…]

Later that Saturday night, I found myself being babied by Liz when we were supposed to be studying. Apparently, the fact that I was completely unscathed by my run-in with The Vulture was not enough to satisfy her fears.

I honestly don’t know what Liz thought I did, but it seemed to be more along the lines of ‘bravely putting myself in danger for the safety of my friend, regardless of what happens to me,’ rather than ‘accidentally getting swooped by the Vulture and screaming like a lil bitch when he let go of me.’

But honestly, I didn’t mind. 

Liz was warming up to me, and I wasn’t gonna complain.

After about maybe five minutes of Liz fawning over me, I finally managed to calm her down enough to actually start studying.

After giving her a topic to memorize, I went back to my phone. 

Once or twice, I looked up and caught Liz looking at me. She quickly turned back to her book when she saw me looking.

Huh.

I already knew Peter in the comics has something of a harem going on, with MJ, Liz, Gwen, Felicia Hardy, and about half a dozen more, but it was still a bit surreal to actually experience first-hand a girl being kinda into me.

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. She probably does not have a crush on me. Not this soon, anyway. 

Disregarding these thoughts, I plugged in my headphones and started listening to the radio scanner app in case anything was going down in the city.

A while later I got wind of a robbery going down at a store only a few blocks from where I was.

I could make it there before the cops if I hurry.

“Hey, uh, Liz?” I said. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom real quick, you focus on your work, alright?”

She nodded, and I ran off to the café bathroom. Entering one of the stalls, I locked the door and quickly changed out of my regular clothes into my Spider-Man suit. I left my sneakers on the floor, so that people could see them under the stall door and know it’s occupied.

I climbed out of the window above the toilet and began swinging my way over to the crime scene. 

It wasn’t much. Just a regular convenience store robbery. Three guys, one of them in the van at the driver’s seat, the other two inside the store.

I went up to the driver guy first. I knocked on the window. He saw me and panicked, started looking for his gun. I punched a hole through the window, taking him out as well.

Then I went into the store.

Then I came out less than a minute later, with both remaining thugs knocked out cold, their robbery a failure.

“Hey, thanks a lot, Spider-Man,” the store manager said. “Y’know, let me make it up to ya. If you’re ever in the area and you need something, just drop by here and you can have it for free!”

“Gee, thanks man!” I said. “I really appreciate it!”

“Least I can do,” he said.

By that time, the police had arrived, and that was my cue to leave. 

After climbing back into the bathroom stall that I had left my clothes at, I quickly changed back into my civilian clothes i.e., put them over my Spider-suit and took off my mask.

I rejoined Liz in the café.

“There you are,” she said as I sat down at the table. “What took you so long?”

“I was in only in there for like, six minutes,” I said.

“You timed that?” she asked. 

“I- no, I mean… just, focus on your work!” I said.

She went back to work with a hint of a smirk.

Later that night, once we had finished studying, Liz said to me, “Hey, Peter? Listen, I’m um, sorry… about the way I’ve treated you all these years,”

“Umm, okay…?” I said.

“You’re a great guy,” she went on in a small voice. “I really shouldn’t have treated the way I did for so long, I’m- I’m sorry. How can I make it up to you?”

“Huh?” I said. “Listen, Liz, just… forget about it. It’s okay, really,”

Liz was outright apologizing for her behavior. That was certainly refreshing.

One might say that a simple apology isn’t enough to make up for years of mistreatment, and they’d be right. But since I (technically) hadn’t been mistreated for years, I wasn’t gonna hold a grudge.

Later that night, half past ten, I was swinging through town in my Spider-suit, on the lookout for crime, when I swung past an art museum. I saw a dark figure on top of the glass roof.

I landed on a nearby rooftop, watching the scene.

The person, whoever they were, cut a hole through the glass, and slid down a rope into the museum. 

Okay, another robbery to prevent. Simple enough.

I jumped and landed on the glass roof without making a sound. The thief had already slid down into the museum, but they were still attached to the rope. I looked down, and saw the thief getting ready to nab a painting.

But I wasn’t gonna let that happen. I grabbed the rope firmly, and before the person could react in any way, I pulled back with all my strength (well not all of my strength, but still a lot). 

The burglar came flying through the circular hole they had made and fell onto the roof. They almost immediately got up and charged at me.

Or rather, she got up and charged at me.

It’s pretty obvious who I’m talking about. There’s really only one noteworthy female burglar in the world of Spider-Man, and that is Felicia Hardy. The Black Cat.

I hadn’t really noticed her silver hair before, since she had been at a considerable distance up till now, but this was definitely her.

She lunged at me with her sharp claws.

“Hey, try to keep those claws away from the face, will ya?” I said, dodging her attack.

“Why? Got a date?” she said, continuing to try and turn me into a scratch-post.

“Actually, yeah,” I said. I grabbed her arm the next time she lunged at me. But before I could really do anything else, I was blinded by pain, thanks to a sharp, painful kick right to the nuts.

I fell to my knees. What a cheap shot!

“Well, I went for the next-best thing,” she said.

“Best in terms of most pain to the enemy, or most pleasure to the date?” I said.

That caught her a bit off guard, which gave me my opening. I shot a web at her foot, and pulled back, causing her to trip and fall. I got up and tried to punch her in the face to knock her out, but she dodged and instead my punch hit the glass, which started to crack.

“Uh oh,” I said just before the glass broke. I would be able to jump off before it gave out, but Black Cat couldn’t, so I had to grab her as well and jump of.

In hindsight, I probably didn’t need to. The fall wasn’t that high. But I guess it was better I did, because now both me and Black Cat were away from the museum and on the rooftop of a nearby building.

She started attacking me even faster. I dodged most of her attacks, but she still managed to get a few small cuts on my chest. 

I jumped back a few feet to put some distance between myself and her, and firstly, shot a web at her face.

While she tried to remove the webbing (I doubted she could, without scratching up her face), I charged at her and knocked her down. I webbed her hands and feet to the ground. Now that she was more-or-less contained, I removed the webbing from her face. 

“Morning, sunshine,” I said.

“You ruined my score!”

“That’s kinda what I do, darlin’” I said. “Take names and kick ass,”

She tried to break free from the webs but couldn’t.

“Yeah, that’s not gonna work,” I said. “So, anyway, you got a name?”

Of course, I knew her name, but I was roleplaying.

“Really? You’re not gonna turn me in?”

“Oh, I will, don’t worry about that,” I responded. “I just need to kill some time.”

“Like hell you do,” she said. “You could be killing time stopping other criminals. I think you’re still here because you find me hot,”

Ah shit, she had a point. Also, she was on the ground with her hands and feet webbed to the ground. That’s kinda kinky.

“Why can’t it be both?” I said.

“Fair enough. Name’s Black Cat, by the way. Purrrfect, isn’t it?”

“Very creative. D’you come up with that one yourself?”

“You’re one to talk, Spider-Man,” 

Ah shit, she had a point there too. I guess I was throwing rocks from my house made of glass.

At that moment, my phone rang. It was Uncle Ben. I went to the other side of the roof for a bit of privacy.

“Yeah, Uncle Ben, what’s up?” I said.

“Pete, Aunt May wanted me to tell you to pick some cereal on your way back.”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll get it,” I said. “Anything else?”

“No, where are you right now, by the way? It’s getting late,”

“I’m on my way home, don’t worry,” I assured him.

“Okay, be back before 11. Curfew, remember?”

“Okay, sure, don’t worry,”

I hung up, and turned around to find Black Cat gone. She must have managed to cut through the webbing. 

Eh, I wasn’t too pressed to chase after her. 

I was supposed to look after the little guy, and as far as Spider-Man’s rogues gallery went, she was probably the least harmful to the little guy. All she did was steal from rich people who could probably afford to take the hit.

Besides, I really needed to be heading home. Uncle Ben getting shot the night before my date with MJ would not be ideal.

[…]

After getting the cereal for free from the convenience store that I had saved earlier that evening, I returned home, arriving about ten minutes or so before eleven.

After giving Aunt May the cereal, I went up to my bedroom.

I took my shirt off to examine any wounds from my fight earlier that evening.

Black Cat’s claws had just barely scraped my chest, so I wasn’t really bleeding. Other than that, I was mostly fine.

I turned around and walked over to my dresser, which was on the same wall as my window. I opened the drawer to get a new shirt, when I happened to glance out the window and saw MJ looking at me from her bedroom in the neighboring house.

Her face became about as red as her hair and she quickly turned away when she saw me looking. And I quickly covered up my chest with the clean shirt in my hands.

I quickly put on the shirt while she was looking away, before opening the window.

“Um, hi?” I said.

She looked back at me, her face still kinda red, and seeing that I now had a shirt on, said, “Hey… gosh, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to act like a creep,”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” I reassured her. I was pretty sure she hadn’t deliberately been looking into my room. “I should have drawn the curtains.”

In an alternate reality, a situation where I was caught shirtless by MJ could have ended up going in a very different direction, one that likely ended with some naughty things. 

But I wasn’t gonna do that, because a) the success chances of making a move right now would be extremely low, and b) we hadn’t even gotten remotely close to a romantic relationship. This was the night before our first date, I didn’t wanna do anything to risk ruining that.

“Well, it wasn’t the worst sight in the world,” MJ said sheepishly, still blushing a little and not really looking my way.

I chuckled a bit at that. “Gee, thanks.”

“Well, umm, good night Peter,” she said. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

“Me too,” I said. “I promise you; it’ll be one hell of a night.”

“I don’t doubt it, tiger,” she said with a smile.


End file.
